10/22 荒漠甘泉 Streams in the Desert
不求超然的感覺
經文: 「摩西牧養他岳父米甸祭司葉忒羅的羊群,一日領羊群往野外去,到了上帝的山,就是何烈山。耶和華的使者從荊棘裡火焰中向摩西顯現。」(出三1~2)
我們普通總以為異象必須在特別環境中纔能看見,在這裡我們看見我們的理想錯了:異象是在日常生活中看見的,上帝喜歡在我們日常生活中啟示祂自己。
上帝祂常到頂普通的路上去尋找一個人,忽然向他顯現。
我的父上帝阿,求祢教導我怎樣在日常生活中等待祢。我並不求甚麼超然的感覺;我只求祢在日常生活中與我交通,求祢在我日常的道路上作我的伴侶,讓這卑賤的人生因著祢的同在得著變化。
有些基督人喜歡常有特別的喜樂和啟示;但是這並不是上帝的方法。那些魂遊象外,與看不見的世界有奇異的接觸,並不是上帝所給我們的應許;上帝所給我們的應許乃是日常生活上的交通。其實這也已經夠了。
門徒中間,看見耶穌在高山上變形的,只有三個人;這三個人也就是同嘗客西馬尼苦味的。沒有一個人能一直留在山上,因為山下還有許多工作等待我們去做。──選
Not of the Extraordinary
Scripture: "Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside, of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, even to Horeb. And the angel of the Lord appeared unto him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush" (Exod. 3:1,2).
The vision came in the midst of common toil, and that is where the Lord delights to give His revelations. He seeks a man who is on the ordinary road, and the Divine fire leaps out at his feet. The mystic ladder can rise from the market place to Heaven. It can connect the realm of drudgery with the realms of grace.
My Father God, help me to expect Thee on the ordinary road. I do not ask for sensational happenings. Commune with me through ordinary work and duty. Be my Companion when I take the common journey. Let the humble life be transfigured by Thy presence.
Some Christians think they must be always up to mounts of extraordinary joy and revelation; this is not after God's method. Those spiritual visits to high places, and that wonderful intercourse with the unseen world, are not in the promises; the daily life of communion is. And it is enough. We shall have the exceptional revelation if it be right for us.
There were but three disciples allowed to see the transfiguration, and those three entered the gloom of Gethsemane. No one can stay on the mount of privilege. There are duties in the valley. Christ found His life-work, not in the glory, but in the valley and was there truly and fully the Messiah. The value of the vision and glory is but their gift of fitness for work and endurance. –Selected