1004 異象與真實
…就是…蒙召做聖徒的… 《哥林多前書 1:2》
為你能夠看到你尚未所是來感謝神。你已有了異象，但你一點都還沒有達到異象實現的樣式。當我們在山谷，正是證明自己是否被揀選之處，我們大多數人卻退縮回頭。如果我們要成為異象中的形狀，我們還沒有準備好去面對必然會來的碰撞和挫傷。我們已看到自己不是什麼、神要我們成為的所是，但我們願意被打造成異象中的樣式而被神使用嗎？擊打總是以最平凡、日常的方式，通過凡夫俗子而來。
有時我們確實知道神的目的是什麼。讓異象變成真實的品格取決於我們，而不在於神。如果我們更喜歡在山頂放鬆並活在異象的回憶中，那麼我們在人類生活組成的平凡事物中，就真的一無用處。我們必須學習倚靠所見的異象去活，而非只是活在狂喜和有意識地默想神之中。這意味着在異象的光中過我們真實的生活，直到異象的真理確實在我們身上實現。我們的每一個訓練都是朝這個方向進行，要學習為神讓我們知祂的要求而感謝神。
當神說做的時候，我們小小的「我是」總是生悶氣、不高興。讓你小小的「我是」在神的震怒和義憤中枯萎——「我是自有永有的…打發我到你們這裡來。」（出埃及記3:14）。祂必須主宰一切。意識到神不僅知道我們住在哪裡，而且還知道我們爬進的溝渠，那不是很刺透我們嗎？祂會以閃電般速度追捕我們，沒有人像神那樣更認識人了。
來自章伯斯的智慧
聖經是事實的聯繫，其中的真實性必須經過考驗。生活可能會一帆風順一段時間，突然間卻發生喪親之痛，或某個危機；單戀或新戀，災難，生意倒閉，或令人震驚的罪，而我們再次打開聖經，神的話就直接觸動我們心靈，我們會說：「哎呀，我以前在那裡怎麼從未見過呢！」《神手之蔭》
1004 The Vision and The Reality
…to those who are…called to be saints… —1 Corinthians 1:2
Thank God for being able to see all that you have not yet been. You have had the vision, but you are not yet to the reality of it by any means. It is when we are in the valley, where we prove whether we will be the choice ones, that most of us turn back. We are not quite prepared for the bumps and bruises that must come if we are going to be turned into the shape of the vision. We have seen what we are not, and what God wants us to be, but are we willing to be battered into the shape of the vision to be used by God? The beatings will always come in the most common, everyday ways and through common, everyday people.
There are times when we do know what God’s purpose is; whether we will let the vision be turned into actual character depends on us, not on God. If we prefer to relax on the mountaintop and live in the memory of the vision, then we will be of no real use in the ordinary things of which human life is made. We have to learn to live in reliance upon what we saw in the vision, not simply live in ecstatic delight and conscious reflection upon God. This means living the realities of our lives in the light of the vision until the truth of the vision is actually realized in us. Every bit of our training is in that direction. Learn to thank God for making His demands known.
Our little “I am” always sulks and pouts when God says do. Let your little “I am” be shriveled up in God’s wrath and indignation— “I AM WHO I AM…has sent me to you” (Exodus 3:14). He must dominate. Isn’t it piercing to realize that God not only knows where we live, but also knows the gutters into which we crawl! He will hunt us down as fast as a flash of lightning. No human being knows human beings as God does.
WISDOM FROM OSWALD CHAMBERS
The Bible is a relation of facts, the truth of which must be tested. Life may go on all right for a while, when suddenly a bereavement comes, or some crisis; unrequited love or a new love, a disaster, a business collapse, or a shocking sin, and we turn up our Bibles again and God’s word comes straight home, and we say, “Why, I never saw that there before.” Shade of His Hand, 1223 L