晨興餧養
民十七 8『第二天，摩西進見證的會幕去；看哪，利未家亞倫的杖已經發了芽，甚至生了花苞，開了花，結了熟杏。』
太十九 26『耶穌…說，在人這是不能的，在神凡事都能。』
神吩咐十二個首領按着〔以色列〕支派，共取十二根杖，放在會幕內的約櫃前。然後神說，『我揀選的那人，他的杖必發芽。』〔民十七 5。〕杖是一根木頭，是一根樹枝，上下都砍斷了，上離葉，下離根。…原來能從樹上得汁液，能開花結果，現在是死了。十二根杖都沒有葉子、沒有根，都是死枯的。…若有那一根能發芽，那一根就是神所揀選的。在此我們看見復活乃是神揀選的根據；復活乃是權柄的根據。（倪柝聲文集第三輯第一册，二六八至二六九頁。）
信息選讀
這十二根杖在約櫃前過了一夜，神使亞倫的杖發了芽，生了花苞，結了熟杏。這裏有一根枯死的杖，而神將生命能力放在其中。…亞倫的杖發了芽有甚麼意義呢？發芽的杖首先乃是叫杖的主人謙卑，其次也叫別的杖的主人沒話說。如果我們拿一根已經乾掉的杖，像亞倫所拿的一樣，是死的，一點發芽的盼望也沒有；…但第二天，竟然看見我們的枯杖已經發了芽，且開了花，還結出了果子。我們該有怎樣的反應呢？我們該流淚向神說，這是你的事，不是我的事；是你的榮耀，不是我的榮耀。我們這人在神面前自然就謙卑了。這真是如保羅所說的，寶貝在瓦器裏，要顯明這超越的能力是屬於神，不是出於我們。（林後四 7。）所以只有愚昧的人纔會驕傲。但蒙恩的人必俯伏在神面前說，『這是神的事，我一點沒有可驕傲的；這是在於神的憐憫，不在於人的定意或奔跑。我沒有一點不是領受的；我所有的，全是因着神的揀選。』
當主耶穌騎着驢駒進耶路撒冷時，眾人都喊着：『和散那！在主名裏來的，是當受頌讚的！』（可十一 9。）驢駒聽到人喊『和散那』，又看見人砍下樹枝鋪在路上讓牠走過，或者轉過頭來向主說，『這是向你喊，還是向我喊？』…許多神的僕人，也許常是這樣的愚昧。不是那驢駒和別的驢不一樣，乃是牠身上的主不一樣；不是那驢駒被稱讚，乃是牠背上的主被稱讚。…所以愚昧人纔說，『我比別人好。』
一切事奉的原則，乃在於發芽的杖。神把其他的十一根杖都發還各首領，只把亞倫那根杖留在約櫃裏，作永遠的記念。這意思是，復活乃是事奉神的永遠原則。事奉神的人，乃是一個死了的人，再復活了。神一直向自己並向祂的子民見證，事奉神的權柄，乃是根據復活，不是根據人自己。事奉神的事非經過死而復活，就不能擺在神面前蒙悅納。復活就是神，不是我們；復活就是神能，我不能；復活就是神作的，不是我作的。…所有認識復活的人，都是對自己絕望的人；所有認識復活的人，都是知道自己不能的人。天然的力量還存在時，復活的能力就無法彰顯。…凡是你能的，乃是天然的；你不能的，纔是復活的。（倪柝聲文集第三輯第一册，二六九至二七○、二七二、二七五至二七六頁。）
參讀：倪柝聲文集第三輯第一册，權柄與順服（下編），第四篇；出埃及記生命讀經，第九十二至九十四篇。
WEEK 9 — DAY 2
Morning Nourishment
Num. 17:8 And on the next day Moses went into the Tent of the Testimony, and there was the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi: it had budded; it even put forth buds and produced blossoms and bore ripe almonds.
Matt. 19:26 …Jesus said to them, With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.
God commanded the twelve leaders to take twelve rods according to the twelve tribes of Israel and put them in the tent of meeting before the Ark. Then He said, “And the rod of the man whom I choose shall bud” (Num. 17:5). A rod is a piece of wood. It is a branch that has been stripped of its leaves and roots…It once derived its sap from the tree, being able to blossom and bear fruit, but now has become dead. All twelve rods were leafless, rootless, dry, and dead. Whichever one budded was the one that was chosen by God. Here we see that resurrection is the basis of God’s selection. It is also the basis of authority. (CWWN, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” p. 243)
Today’s Reading
The twelve rods spent a night before the Ark. God caused Aaron’s rod to bud, blossom, and bear ripe almonds. Here was a dead rod, yet God put the power of life into it…What did it mean for Aaron’s rod to bud? First, a budding rod humbles the owner of the rod. Second, it shuts up the mouth of the owners of the other rods. What would our reaction be if we took a dry rod like that of Aaron’s, which was dead and had no hope of budding, and found to our surprise that it had budded, blossomed, and borne fruit the next day? We would confess to God in tears that this was His doing. It would have nothing to do with us. It would be His glory, not our glory. Spontaneously, we would be humbled before God. This is what Paul meant when he said, “We have this treasure in earthen vessels that the excellency of the power may be of God and not out of us” (2 Cor. 4:7). Only foolish ones would try to be proud. A person who has received grace from God will surely fall down before Him, saying, “This is God’s doing. I have nothing to boast of. Everything depends on God’s mercy, not on man’s willing or running. There is nothing that I have which has not been received. Everything that I have comes from God’s selection.”
When the Lord Jesus went into Jerusalem on a colt, the people cried, “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Mark 11:9). When the colt heard the people shouting “Hosanna” and saw them spreading branches before the Lord, it could have turned around and asked the Lord, “Are they shouting to You or to me?”…Many servants of God are often this foolish. The colt was no different than other colts. The difference was the Lord who was on the colt. It was not the colt who was being praised, but the Lord who was on the colt…Only a foolish person would say that he is better than others.
The principle of every service lies in the budding rod. God returned all the eleven rods to the leaders but kept Aaron’s rod inside the Ark as an eternal memorial. This means that resurrection is an eternal principle in our service to God. A servant of the Lord is one who has died and resurrected. God testifies again and again to His people that authority to serve God lies in resurrection, not in a person himself. All services to the Lord must pass through death and resurrection before they will be acceptable to God. Resurrection means that everything is of God and not of us. It means that God
alone is able and that we are not able. Resurrection means that everything is done by God, not by ourselves…All those who know resurrection have given up hope in themselves; they know that they cannot make it. As long as the natural strength remains, the power of resurrection has no ground for manifestation…What we can do belongs to the natural realm, and what is impossible for us to do belongs to the realm of resurrection. (CWWN, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” pp. 244-246, 248-249)
Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 47, “Authority and Submission,” ch. 15; Life- study of Exodus, msgs. 92—94
