0214 听的操练
我在暗中告诉你们的，你们要在明处说出来；你们耳中所听的，要在房上宣扬出来。《马太福音 10:27》
有时神让我们经历黑暗和管教的磨练，以教导我们听祂并顺服祂。鸣鸟被教导在黑暗中歌唱，神将我们置于祂手的荫下，直到我们学会听祂（以赛亚书 49:2）。 「无论我在黑暗中告诉你什么…」——当神把你置于黑暗中时，要注意，并在黑暗中保持闭口。在你的处境中，或你与神的生活中，你现在是在黑暗中吗？如果是，那就保持安静。如果你在黑暗中开口，你会在错误的心情下说话——黑暗是倾听的时候。不要和其他人谈论这件事，不要看书来找出黑暗的原因，只要倾听并服从即可。如果你和别人说话，你就听不到神在说什么。当你在黑暗中时，要倾听，一旦你回到光明中，神就会给你一个非常宝贵的信息可传给别人。
每一次黑暗之后，我们都应该经历一种喜悦与羞辱的混合。如果只有喜悦，我怀疑我们是否真正听见了神。我们应该因听到神说话而感到喜悦，但更多的是因花了这么长时间才听祂而感到羞辱！然后我们会惊叫起来：「我是如此缓慢聆听和理解神一直在告诉我的事！」然而神已经说了好几天，甚至好几周了；但一旦你听见祂，祂就会赐给你羞辱的礼物，这会带来内心的柔软——一份总是会让你现在倾听神的礼物。
来自章伯斯的智慧
信心永远不知道它被引导到哪里，但它热爱并认识那位引领者。《竭诚为主》，3月19日
0214 The Discipline of Hearing
Whatever I tell you in the dark, speak in the light; and what you hear in the ear, preach on the housetops. —Matthew 10:27
Sometimes God puts us through the experience and discipline of darkness to teach us to hear and obey Him. Song birds are taught to sing in the dark, and God puts us into “the shadow of His hand” until we learn to hear Him (Isaiah 49:2). “Whatever I tell you in the dark…” — pay attention when God puts you into darkness, and keep your mouth closed while you are there. Are you in the dark right now in your circumstances, or in your life with God? If so, then remain quiet. If you open your mouth in the dark, you will speak while in the wrong mood— darkness is the time to listen. Don’t talk to other people about it; don’t read books to find out the reason for the darkness; just listen and obey. If you talk to other people, you cannot hear what God is saying. When you are in the dark, listen, and God will give you a very precious message for someone else once you are back in the light.
After every time of darkness, we should experience a mixture of delight and humiliation. If there is only delight, I question whether we have really heard God at all. We should experience delight for having heard God speak, but mostly humiliation for having taken so long to hear Him! Then we will exclaim, “How slow I have been to listen and understand what God has been telling me!” And yet God has been saying it for days and even weeks. But once you hear Him, He gives you the gift of humiliation, which brings a softness of heart— a gift that will always cause you to listen to God now.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading. My Utmost for His Highest, March 19, 761 L