0903 將滿足之水澆奠
他卻不肯喝，將水奠在耶和華面前…《撒母耳記下 23:16》
最近對你來說，什麼東西像「伯利恆井裡的水」——愛情、友誼，或者可能是某種屬靈的祝福（撒母耳記下 23:16）？你是否為了滿足自己，甚至冒着損害自己靈魂的風險，接受了這些東西？如果你這麼做了，那麼，你就不能把它傾倒「給主」。你永遠不能把你為自己所渴望以滿足你自己的東西分別為聖獻給神。如果你試圖用神的祝福來滿足自己，它會敗壞你。你必須獻出為祭，將它傾倒給神——你的常識會認為那是一種荒謬的浪費。
我怎樣才能將天然的愛和屬靈祝福傾倒「給主」呢？只有一個辦法——我必須在心裡下定決心這樣做。其他人做的有些事，是不認識神的人永遠無法領受的，因為人類無法償還它們。一旦我意識到某件事對我來說太美好，我不配接受它，而且它根本不適合人類，我就必須把它傾倒「給主」。然後，這些臨到我身上的東西將像「活水的江河」一樣傾倒在我周圍（約翰福音7:38）。在我把這些東西傾倒給神之前，它們實際上會危及我所愛的人以及我自己，因為它們會變成貪慾。是的，我們會對不污穢卑劣的事物產生貪慾；甚至愛也必須通過傾倒「給主」來轉化。
如果你變得又苦又酸，那是因為當神給你祝福時，你卻把它藏起來了。然而，如果你把它傾倒給祂，你就會成為世界上最甜美的人。如果你總是為自己保留祝福，從不學習將任何東西傾倒「給主」，其他人將永遠無法通過你擴展他們對神的視野。
來自章伯斯的智慧
我沒有權利說我相信神，除非我把我的生活安排在祂全知的眼下。《真的門徒》
0903 Pouring Out the Water of Satisfaction
He would not drink it, but poured it out to the Lord. —2 Samuel 23:16
What has been like “water from the well of Bethlehem” to you recently— love, friendship, or maybe some spiritual blessing (2 Samuel 23:16)? Have you taken whatever it may be, even at the risk of damaging your own soul, simply to satisfy yourself? If you have, then you cannot pour it out “to the Lord.” You can never set apart for God something that you desire for yourself to achieve your own satisfaction. If you try to satisfy yourself with a blessing from God, it will corrupt you. You must sacrifice it, pouring it out to God— something that your common sense says is an absurd waste.
How can I pour out “to the Lord” natural love and spiritual blessings? There is only one way— I must make a determination in my mind to do so. There are certain things other people do that could never be received by someone who does not know God, because it is humanly impossible to repay them. As soon as I realize that something is too wonderful for me, that I am not worthy to receive it, and that it is not meant for a human being at all, I must pour it out “to the Lord.” Then these very things that have come to me will be poured out as “rivers of living water” all around me (John 7:38). And until I pour these things out to God, they actually endanger those I love, as well as myself, because they will be turned into lust. Yes, we can be lustful in things that are not sordid and vile. Even love must be transformed by being poured out “to the Lord.”
If you have become bitter and sour, it is because when God gave you a blessing you hoarded it. Yet if you had poured it out to Him, you would have been the sweetest person on earth. If you are always keeping blessings to yourself and never learning to pour out anything “to the Lord,” other people will never have their vision of God expanded through you.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
I have no right to say I believe in God unless I order my life as under His all-seeing Eye. –Disciples Indeed, 385 L