0524 绝望的喜乐
我一看见他，就扑倒在他脚前，像死了一样。 《启示录1:17》
也许你像使徒约翰一样，非常亲密地认识耶稣基督。然而，当祂突然以完全陌生的特征出现在你面前时，你唯一能做的，「就仆倒在祂脚前，像死了一样。」有时，神无法以任何其他方式显现自己，除了以祂的威严显现出来，正是这种令人敬畏的异象把你带到绝望的喜悦中。你在绝望中体验到这种喜乐，意识到如果你要被高举起来，就必须凭借神的手。
「他用右手按着我…」（启示录 1:17）。在这令人敬畏中，一种触摸来了，你知道那是耶稣基督的右手。你知道那不是管束、纠正或责罚之手，而是永在之父的右手。每当祂的手按在你身上时，它给予你难以表达的平安和安慰，以及「在你以下是永久的膀臂」（申命记 33:27）的感觉，充满支持、供应、安慰和力量。一旦祂的触摸降临，就没有什么能让你再次陷入恐惧。在祂升天的荣耀之中，主耶稣来对一个微不足道的门徒说：「不要害怕」（启示录1:17）。祂的温柔是无法形容的甜蜜。我认识祂像那样吗？
看看一些引起绝望的事情，有一种绝望是没有高兴，没有任何极限，也没有任何更光明的盼望。但当「我知道在我里头，就是我肉体之中，没有良善…」（罗马书 7:18）时，绝望的喜乐就会到来。我很高兴知道，当神向我显现祂自己时，我里面有一些东西必须俯伏在祂面前，而且我也很高兴知道，如果我要被举起来，那一定是藉助神的手。直到我认识到人类可能的极限，允许神去做那不可能的事之前，神不能为我做任何事。
来自章伯斯的智慧
没有一种生活状态是我们不能住在耶稣里的。无论我们身在何处，我们都必须学习住在祂里面。《我们辉煌的遗产》
0524 The Delight of Despair
When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. —Revelation 1:17
It may be that, like the apostle John, you know Jesus Christ intimately. Yet when He suddenly appears to you with totally unfamiliar characteristics, the only thing you can do is fall “at His feet as dead.” There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awesomeness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair. You experience this joy in hopelessness, realizing that if you are ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God.
“He laid His right hand on me…” (Revelation 1:17). In the midst of the awesomeness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. You know it is not the hand of restraint, correction, nor chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it gives inexpressible peace and comfort, and the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms” (Deuteronomy 33:27), full of support, provision, comfort, and strength. And once His touch comes, nothing at all can throw you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory, the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, saying, “Do not be afraid” (Revelation 1:17). His tenderness is inexpressibly sweet. Do I know Him like that?
Take a look at some of the things that cause despair. There is despair which has no delight, no limits whatsoever, and no hope of anything brighter. But the delight of despair comes when “I know that in me (that is, in my flesh) nothing good dwells…” (Romans 7:18). I delight in knowing that there is something in me which must fall prostrate before God when He reveals Himself to me, and also in knowing that if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I recognize the limits of what is humanly possible, allowing Him to do the impossible.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
There is no condition of life in which we cannot abide in Jesus. We have to learn to abide in Him wherever we are placed. — Our Brilliant Heritage, 946 R