1001 提升之地
…耶稣带着…暗暗地上了高山…《马可福音 9:2》
我们都经历过山顶欣喜的时刻，当我们会从神的角度看待事物，并想留在那里的时刻不再下来。但神绝不会允许我们留在那里。我们灵命的真正考验是展现在从山上下来的能力。如果我们只有上山的力量，那就有问题了。与神同在山上是件美好的事，但一个人到那里，只是为了以后能下山把山谷中被鬼附的人提升（见马可福音9:14-18）。我们受造不是为山顶、日出或生活中其它美丽的景点——那些只是用来激发灵感的时刻。我们是为山谷和生活中的平凡事物而生，那正是我们必须证明自己耐力/毅力和力量的地方。然而，我们灵命的自私总是想要重复山顶的时刻；我们觉得如果我们能留在山顶，我们就能像完美天使一样说话和生活。那些提升欣喜时刻是例外的，它们在我们与神同在的生活中有其意义，但我们必须小心，避免我们灵性自私想要使它们成为唯一的时刻。
我们倾向于认为，发生的每一件事都要转化为有用的教导；事实上，它是要变成比教导更好的东西，那就是品格。山顶并不意味要教导我们任何事，而是要使我们成为什么。总是问「这种经历有什么用」会陷入一个可怕的陷阱；我们永远无法以那种方式来衡量属灵事件。在山顶的时刻是罕有的，它们是为了神某个目的而有的。
来自章伯斯的智慧
人类的选择是在两者中间做出的；开始和结束都在神手中。神的命定是生与死，在生死之间，人类制造了自己的痛苦或欢乐。《神手之荫》
1001 The Place of Exaltation
…Jesus took…them up on a high mountain apart by themselves… —Mark 9:2
We have all experienced times of exaltation on the mountain, when we have seen things from God’s perspective and have wanted to stay there. But God will never allow us to stay there. The true test of our spiritual life is in exhibiting the power to descend from the mountain. If we only have the power to go up, something is wrong. It is a wonderful thing to be on the mountain with God, but a person only gets there so that he may later go down and lift up the demon-possessed people in the valley (see Mark 9:14-18). We are not made for the mountains, for sunrises, or for the other beautiful attractions in life— those are simply intended to be moments of inspiration. We are made for the valley and the ordinary things of life, and that is where we have to prove our stamina and strength. Yet our spiritual selfishness always wants repeated moments on the mountain. We feel that we could talk and live like perfect angels, if we could only stay on the mountaintop. Those times of exaltation are exceptional and they have their meaning in our life with God, but we must beware to prevent our spiritual selfishness from wanting to make them the only time.
We are inclined to think that everything that happens is to be turned into useful teaching. In actual fact, it is to be turned into something even better than teaching, namely, character. The mountaintop is not meant to teach us anything, it is meant to make us something. There is a terrible trap in always asking, “What’s the use of this experience?” We can never measure spiritual matters in that way. The moments on the mountaintop are rare moments, and they are meant for something in God’s purpose.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
It is in the middle that human choices are made; the beginning and the end remain with God. The decrees of God are birth and death, and in between those limits man makes his own distress or joy. Shade of His Hand, 1223 L