0623 常經憂患
他是個「被人厭棄，多受痛苦，常經憂患。」 《以賽亞書 53:3》
我們不像我們的主那樣「常經憂患」。我們忍受它並經歷它，但我們並沒有變得與它親密。在我們生命之初，並沒有把自己帶到面對罪的真實的程度。我們用理性的眼光來看待生命，認為如果一個人能夠控制自己的本能，並教育自己，他就能創造出一種慢慢地進化成神的生命。但當我們生命繼續活下去時，我們發現有某種我們尚未考慮到的東西的存在，那就是罪——它打亂了我們所有的思想和計劃。罪使我們的思維基礎變得不可預測、無可控制和非理性的。
我們必須認識到罪是生活中的一個事實，而不僅僅是一個缺點。罪是對神公然的反抗，在我的生命中，要麼罪，要麼神必須死去。新約把我們帶到這一個議題上：如果罪在我裡面統治，在我裡面神的生命將會被殺死；如果神在我裡面統治，在我裡面的罪就會被殺死。再沒有什麼比這個問題更根本的了。罪的頂峰是耶穌基督被釘在十字架上，神在地上的歷史中的真實，在你我的歷史中也是真實的，那就是：罪會殺死在我們裡面神的生命。我們必須在心志上接受這個罪的事實，這是耶穌基督來到世上的唯一解釋，也是對生命傷慟和悲哀的解釋。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我們沒有權利決定我們應該被安置在何處，也不能有關於神正在準備我們做什麼的預設觀念。神設計了一切；無論祂把我們安置在哪裡，我們唯一至高的目標應該是在這項特定的工作中，傾注我們的生命，全心委身於神。「凡你手所當做的事，要儘力去做。」《竭誠為主》 4 月 23 日
0623 Acquainted With Grief
He is…a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. —Isaiah 53:3
We are not “acquainted with grief” in the same way our Lord was acquainted with it. We endure it and live through it, but we do not become intimate with it. At the beginning of our lives we do not bring ourselves to the point of dealing with the reality of sin. We look at life through the eyes of reason and say that if a person will control his instincts, and educate himself, he can produce a life that will slowly evolve into the life of God. But as we continue on through life, we find the presence of something which we have not yet taken into account, namely, sin— and it upsets all of our thinking and our plans. Sin has made the foundation of our thinking unpredictable, uncontrollable, and irrational.
We have to recognize that sin is a fact of life, not just a shortcoming. Sin is blatant mutiny against God, and either sin or God must die in my life. The New Testament brings us right down to this one issue— if sin rules in me, God’s life in me will be killed; if God rules in me, sin in me will be killed. There is nothing more fundamental than that. The culmination of sin was the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, and what was true in the history of God on earth will also be true in your history and in mine— that is, sin will kill the life of God in us. We must mentally bring ourselves to terms with this fact of sin. It is the only explanation why Jesus Christ came to earth, and it is the explanation of the grief and sorrow of life.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
We have no right to judge where we should be put, or to have preconceived notions as to what God is fitting us for. God engineers everything; wherever He puts us, our one great aim is to pour out a whole-hearted devotion to Him in that particular work. “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might.” My Utmost for His Highest, April 23, 773 L