0403 如果你知道！
巴不得你在這日子知道關係你平安的事；無奈這事現在是隱藏的，叫你的眼看不出來。 《路加福音 19:42》
耶穌勝利地進入耶路撒冷，這座城市從根基上都被攪動了，但那裡卻有一個奇怪的神——法利賽人的驕傲。這是一個看似虔誠正直的神，但耶穌將它比作「粉飾的墳墓，外面好看，裡面卻裝滿了死人的骨頭和一切的污穢。」（馬太福音23:27）
是什麼使你「在這日子」看不到神的平安？你是否有個奇怪的神——不是令人噁心的怪物，而可能是控制你生活不聖潔的本性？神不止一次讓我面對我生命中奇怪的神，我知道我應該放棄它，但我沒有這樣做。我「好不容易」才度過危機，卻發現自己仍然受那個奇怪的神的控制，我對那些真正讓我平安的事情視而不見。令人震驚的是，我們可以處在神的靈對我們應該完全不受阻礙之地，但我們卻只會使情況變得更糟，增加我們在神眼中的責備。
「如果你知道的話……」神的話直戳人心，背後有耶穌的眼淚；這些話暗示了我們要為自己的過錯負責。神要我們對我們因罪而拒絕看到或無法看到的事情負責。而「現在它們對你的眼來說是隱藏的」，因為你從未完全將你的本性降服於祂。哦，對可能發生的事情有着深深、無盡的悲傷！神永遠不會再打開已經關閉的門；祂打開其他的門，但祂提醒我們，有些門是我們已經關上的——那些門本來不需要關上的。當神帶你回到過去時，永遠不要害怕。讓你的記憶自由而行；它是神的使者，帶給你責備和悲傷。神會將原本可能發生的事情變成未來成長的美好教訓。
來自章伯斯的智慧
「是我揀選了你們。」（約翰福音 15:16）。在你的信條中保留這個偉大的註解。不是你擁有了神，而是神擁有了你。《竭誠為主》， 10月25日
0403 “If You Had Known!”
If you had known…in this your day, the things that make for your peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes. —Luke 19:42
Jesus entered Jerusalem triumphantly and the city was stirred to its very foundations, but a strange god was there– the pride of the Pharisees. It was a god that seemed religious and upright, but Jesus compared it to “whitewashed tombs which indeed appear beautiful outwardly, but inside are full of dead men’s bones and all uncleanness” (Matthew 23:27).
What is it that blinds you to the peace of God “in this your day”? Do you have a strange god– not a disgusting monster but perhaps an unholy nature that controls your life? More than once God has brought me face to face with a strange god in my life, and I knew that I should have given it up, but I didn’t do it. I got through the crisis “by the skin of my teeth,” only to find myself still under the control of that strange god. I am blind to the very things that make for my own peace. It is a shocking thing that we can be in the exact place where the Spirit of God should be having His completely unhindered way with us, and yet we only make matters worse, increasing our blame in God’s eyes.
“If you had known….” God’s words here cut directly to the heart, with the tears of Jesus behind them. These words imply responsibility for our own faults. God holds us accountable for what we refuse to see or are unable to see because of our sin. And “now they are hidden from your eyes” because you have never completely yielded your nature to Him. Oh, the deep, unending sadness for what might have been! God never again opens the doors that have been closed. He opens other doors, but He reminds us that there are doors which we have shut– doors which had no need to be shut. Never be afraid when God brings back your past. Let your memory have its way with you. It is a minister of God bringing its rebuke and sorrow to you. God will turn what might have been into a wonderful lesson of growth for the future.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
“I have chosen you” (John 15:16). Keep that note of greatness in your creed. It is not that you have got God, but that He has got you. –My Utmost for His Highest, October 25, 837 R