0302 你感受到主所施的痛苦了吗？
第三次对他说：「约翰的儿子西门，你爱我吗？」《约翰福音21:17》
你曾感受到主在你的本体，你生命最深处、最敏感的地方所造成的痛苦吗？魔鬼从不会在那里造成痛苦，罪或人类的情感也不能。除了神的真道，没有什么能切入我们本体的那一部分。 彼得很忧愁，因为耶稣第三次问他说：「你爱我吗？」然而，他醒悟到一个事实，他个人生活的中心是献身于耶稣。然后他开始明白耶稣耐心询问的意义，彼得心中没有留下任何疑虑；他再也不能被欺骗了；也不需要激情澎湃的回应，不需要立即采取行动或情感展示。对他来说，那是一个启示，他意识到自己真的有多么爱主，他满怀惊讶地只是说：「主啊，你知道所有的事…。」彼得开始明白他真的有多爱耶稣，且没有必要说：「看看这个或那个，是我的爱的证明。」他发现自己的眼睛是如此专注于耶稣基督，以至于他看不到天上地下的别人。但直到主的那些尖锐、刺痛的问题问到时，他才知道。主的问题总是向我自己揭示真实的我。
哦，耶稣基督对彼得的耐心、直接和技巧是何等奇妙！我们的主从来不问问题，直到时机成熟。在我们每个人的一生中很稀罕地但可能有这么一次，祂会把我们逼到墙角，用祂尖锐的问题伤害我们。然后我们会意识到我们对祂的爱远超过我们言语所能表达的。
来自章伯斯的智慧
神不会不顾我们的环境而促进我们的灵性生活，而是在我们的环境中，通过我们的环境来促进我们的灵性生活。《不知往何处去》
0302 Have You Felt the Pain Inflicted by the Lord?
He said to him the third time, “…do you love Me?” —John 21:17
Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’” Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, “Lord, You know all things….” Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, “Look at this or that as proof of my love.” Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.
Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
God does not further our spiritual life in spite of our circumstances, but in and by our circumstances. –Not Knowing Whither, 900 L