0501 信心 — 而非情感
因我們行事為人，是憑着信心，不是憑着眼見。《哥林多後書5:7》
有一段時間，我們充分徹底知道神對我們的關心。但當神開始在祂的工作中使用我們時，我們就開始露出可憐的表情，只談論我們的試煉和困難。而一直以來，神試圖讓我們像隱藏的人那樣，不在聚光燈下做我們的工。如果有可能，我們誰都不想在靈性被隱藏。當似乎神封閉了天堂時，我們還能做我們的工嗎？我們中的一些人總想成為明亮的聖徒，帶着金色的光環和持續不斷的靈感光芒，並一直有其他神的聖徒與我們打交道。一個自信的聖徒對神是毫無價值的；他是異常的，不適合日常生活，完全不像神。我們在這裡，不是作為不成熟的天使，而是作為男人和女人，做這個世界的工作；而我們作工，是要以無限強大的力量來頂住掙扎，因為我們是從上而生的。
如果我們不斷地試圖重現那些特殊的靈感時刻，那就是個徵兆，表明我們想要的不是神。我們變得是着迷於神曾經來與我們說話的時刻，並且我們堅持祂再次這麼做。但神要我們做的是「行事為人憑著信心」。我們中有多少人把自己置於一旁，彷彿在說：「除非神向我顯現，否則我不能作什麼」？祂永遠不會這麼做。我們必須自己站起來，沒有任何靈感，也沒有神突然的觸摸；然後我們感到驚訝，我們發現自己驚呼：「哇，祂一直都在那裡，而我卻從來沒有意識到！」永遠不要為那些特殊時刻而活——它們就是驚喜。只有當神看到我們沒有被它們誤導的危險時，祂才會給我們靈感的觸摸。我們決不可將靈感時刻視為生活的標準方式——我們的工作才是我們的標準。
來自章伯斯的智慧
先知們的信息是：儘管他們已經離棄了神，但那並沒有改變神。使徒保羅強調同樣的真理：「我們縱然失信，祂仍是可信的，因為祂不能背乎自己。」（見提摩太後書 2:13）。 永遠不要將神解釋為隨着我們的變化而改變；祂永遠不會；在祂身上沒有改變。《以西結書注釋》
0501 Faith— Not Emotion
We walk by faith, not by sight. —2 Corinthians 5:7
For a while, we are fully aware of God’s concern for us. But then, when God begins to use us in His work, we begin to take on a pitiful look and talk only of our trials and difficulties. And all the while God is trying to make us do our work as hidden people who are not in the spotlight. None of us would be hidden spiritually if we could help it. Can we do our work when it seems that God has sealed up heaven? Some of us always want to be brightly illuminated saints with golden halos and with the continual glow of inspiration, and to have other saints of God dealing with us all the time. A self-assured saint is of no value to God. He is abnormal, unfit for daily life, and completely unlike God. We are here, not as immature angels, but as men and women, to do the work of this world. And we are to do it with an infinitely greater power to withstand the struggle because we have been born from above.
If we continually try to bring back those exceptional moments of inspiration, it is a sign that it is not God we want. We are becoming obsessed with the moments when God did come and speak with us, and we are insisting that He do it again. But what God wants us to do is to “walk by faith.” How many of us have set ourselves aside as if to say, “I cannot do anything else until God appears to me”? He will never do it. We will have to get up on our own, without any inspiration and without any sudden touch from God. Then comes our surprise and we find ourselves exclaiming, “Why, He was there all the time, and I never knew it!” Never live for those exceptional moments— they are surprises. God will give us His touches of inspiration only when He sees that we are not in danger of being led away by them. We must never consider our moments of inspiration as the standard way of life— our work is our standard.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The message of the prophets is that although they have forsaken God, it has not altered God. The Apostle Paul emphasizes the same truth, that God remains God even when we are unfaithful (see 2 Timothy 2:13). Never interpret God as changing with our changes. He never does; there is no variableness in Him. —Notes on Ezekiel, 1477 L