0729 你在云中看见耶稣了吗?
看哪,祂驾云降临…《启示录1:7》
在圣经中,云总是与神相关联;云就是我们个人生活中里里外外的悲伤、痛苦或神护佑的情况,这实际上似乎是与神的主权相矛盾。然而,正是通过这些云,神的灵在教导我们如何凭信心而行。如果我们的生活中从未有云,我们就无法有信心。「云彩为祂脚下的尘土」(那鸿书 1:3),它们是神在我们这里的记号。知道悲伤、丧亲和苦难实际上与神同来的云,这是何等的启示啊!神不能在无云情况下接近我们——祂不会在明亮的光辉中降临。
说神要在我们的试炼中教导我们一些事情,这种说法是不真确的。祂藉着带给我们途中的每一朵云,要我丢掉某些事物。祂使用云的目的是要简化我们的信仰,直到我们与祂的关系完全像孩子一样——一种只存在于神与我们自己灵魂之间的关系,而其他人只是影儿。直到其他人对我们成为影儿之前,云和黑暗将时不时地伴随我们。我们与神的关系,是否正在变得比以往更单纯呢?
神所允许不可思议的护佑环境,与我们对祂的认识,二者之间是有联结,我们必须学会在我们对神的认识的光中来解释生活的奥秘。直到我们能够面对生活中最深沉、最黑暗的事实而不损害我们对神品德的看法之前,我们还不认识祂。
「…他们进入云彩里就惧怕。」(路加福音 9:34)。在你的云里,除了耶稣,还有其他人吗?如果有,那云只会变得更黑暗,直到你到达「不再见一人,只见耶稣…」的境地(马可福音 9:8;另见第 2-7 节)。
来自章伯斯的智慧
关于信神的伟大之处,就在于它使人在纷扰中不受干扰。《以赛亚书注释》
0729 Do You See Jesus in Your Clouds?
Behold, He is coming with clouds… — Revelation 1:7
In the Bible clouds are always associated with God. Clouds are the sorrows, sufferings, or providential circumstances, within or without our personal lives, which actually seem to contradict the sovereignty of God. Yet it is through these very clouds that the Spirit of God is teaching us how to walk by faith. If there were never any clouds in our lives, we would have no faith. “The clouds are the dust of His feet” (Nahum 1:3). They are a sign that God is there. What a revelation it is to know that sorrow, bereavement, and suffering are actually the clouds that come along with God! God cannot come near us without clouds— He does not come in clear-shining brightness.
It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. Is our relationship with God becoming more simple than it has ever been?
It is not true to say that God wants to teach us something in our trials. Through every cloud He brings our way, He wants us to unlearn something. His purpose in using the cloud is to simplify our beliefs until our relationship with Him is exactly like that of a child— a relationship simply between God and our own souls, and where other people are but shadows. Until other people become shadows to us, clouds and darkness will be ours every once in a while. Is our relationship with God becoming more simple than it has ever been?
There is a connection between the strange providential circumstances allowed by God and what we know of Him, and we have to learn to interpret the mysteries of life in the light of our knowledge of God. Until we can come face to face with the deepest, darkest fact of life without damaging our view of God’s character, we do not yet know Him.
“…they were fearful as they entered the cloud” (Luke 9:34). Is there anyone except Jesus in your cloud? If so, it will only get darker until you get to the place where there is “no one anymore, but only Jesus …” (Mark 9:8; also see verses 2–7).
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The great thing about faith in God is that it keeps a man undisturbed in the midst of disturbance. Notes on Isaiah, 1376 R