晨興餧養
林後一 8 ～ 9『弟兄們，關於我們在亞西亞所遭遇的患難，我們不願意你們不知道，就是我們被壓太重，力不能勝，甚至連活命的指望都絕了，自己裏面也斷定是必死的，叫我們不信靠自己，只信靠那叫死人復活的神。』
我們爲甚麼強調活神與復活的神之間的區別？…活神雖然可以爲人作許多事，活神的性情卻無法與人的性情調和。另一面，當復活的神作工時，祂的性情就作到人的性情裏。…卽使活神爲你作了一些事，在這之後，和先前一樣，祂還是祂，你還是你。…另一面，當復活的神作工時，祂就藉着爲人所作的事，把自己傳輸給人。（李常受文集一九五七年第三册，二九頁。）
信息選讀
使徒保羅見證他不僅認識活神，更認識復活的神。保羅受到極大的試煉，甚至連活命的指望都絕了，他卻因此學會信靠那叫死人復活的神。當復活的神爲他作事，叫他從死亡的情形裏復活，那神聖的作爲不僅爲保羅有所成就，同時也將神自己的性情傳輸給保羅。
一位弟兄病得很嚴重，被認爲無可救藥了。然而神憐憫他，爲他行了神蹟，使他痊愈了，從此他就見證神是活神這個事實。然而他痊愈不久後就墮入世界中。他卽使活在世界裏，仍舊記得神是活神，記得神保守他的生命脫離死亡。然而他並沒有經歷神聖生命的加增，僅僅經歷了病得醫治的神蹟。
另一位弟兄病了。日子一天天過去，病情絲毫沒有起色，很長一段時間他都在墳墓邊緣徘徊。然後正當他完全絕了活命的指望時，他全人深處卻漸漸對神有了感覺，復活生命開始在他裏面作工。他領悟到一個事實，這復活的生命是能勝過一切患難，吞滅死亡的生命。他仍舊感覺非常輭弱，仍在極大的試煉中。然而他又更深領悟到，神…乃是要作工分授祂自己。裏面的光漸漸清楚，健康情形也逐漸好轉。這位弟兄不僅經歷神醫，對神也有新的經歷。…這位弟兄若作見證，不會說撼動人心的事，也不會強調神醫，別人卻能在他的生命中遇見神。
苦難的意義是甚麼？苦難所帶給舊造的毀壞，給復活的神機會，把祂自己分授到祂的造物裏，使其從死的過程裏出來時，在其構成上有了神聖的元素。宇宙中苦難的主要目的，特別對神的兒女來說，乃是要藉此使神的性情得以作到人的性情裏。…藉着外面毀壞的過程，裏面的過程得以發生，將新的構成成分加到我們的生命裏。〔林後四 6。〕…當神要帶你經過毀壞的過程時，你必須向祂表同意。你不需要懼怕，因爲神知道如何分配苦難；…祂爲每個人所選定的分，總是爲着這目標，就是使我們生命裏神聖的內容得以加增。祂若懲治我們，總是『爲了我們的益處，使我們有分於祂的聖別』。（來十二 10。）『萬有都互相効力，叫愛神的人得益處，就是按祂旨意被召的人。』（羅八 28。）得甚麼益處？就是『模成神兒子的形像』。（29。）（李常受文集一九五七年第三册，三○至三一、三五至三六頁。）
參讀：活神與復活的神，第三篇。
WEEK 9 — DAY 3
Morning Nourishment
2 Cor. 1:8-9 For we do not want you to be ignorant, brothers, of our affliction which befell us in Asia, that we were excessively burdened, beyond our power, so that we despaired even of living. Indeed we ourselves had the response of death in ourselves, that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.
Why do we stress the distinction between the living God and the God of resurrection?…While the living God can perform many acts on man’s behalf, the nature of the living God cannot blend with the nature of man. When, on the other hand, the God of resurrection works, His very nature is wrought into the nature of man…Even when the living God has performed some act on your behalf, after that act as before it, He is still He, and you are still you… On the other hand, when the God of resurrection works, He communicates Himself to man by that which He does for him. (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection,” pp. 19-20)
Today’s Reading
The apostle Paul testifies to knowing not only the living God but also the God of resurrection. Paul was so sorely tried that he despaired even of living, but it was thus that he learned to trust in the God who raises the dead. When the God of resurrection acted on his behalf to raise him from the dead, that divine act not only accomplished something for Paul; it also communicated God’s own nature to Paul.
A brother becomes seriously ill. His case is considered hopeless, but God has mercy
on him and works a miracle on his behalf so that he recovers. Thereafter, he testifies
to the fact that God is the living God. Yet within a short time of his recovery, he plunges right into the world. Even when he is living in the world, he still remembers that God is the living God and that God preserved his life from death. But he has experienced no increase of divine life; he has experienced only a miracle of healing.
Another brother becomes ill. Day after day passes without a vestige of improvement. For a long time he keeps hovering at the edge of the grave. Then, when he has completely despaired of living, in the depths of his being he gradually becomes aware of God. Resurrection life begins to work within, and he awakens to the fact that this resurrection life is a life that can overcome all affliction and can even swallow up death. He is still conscious of much weakness and is sorely tested; nevertheless, the realization deepens that God…is working to impart Himself. Light breaks upon him gradually, and gradually health returns. This brother does not just experience a healing; he comes into a new experience of God…If this second brother gives a word of testimony, there is nothing sensational about it, and there is no stress on the
healing, yet you meet God in his life.
The significance of suffering…is this, that the devastation it brings to the old creation provides an opportunity for the God of resurrection to impart Himself into His creatures so that they emerge from the death process with a divine element in their constitution. The primary purpose of suffering in this universe, particularly as it relates to the children of God, is that through it the very nature of God may be wrought into the nature of man…Through a process of outward decay, an inward process is taking place that is adding a new constituent to our lives [2 Cor. 4:6]…You must give your consent to God when He seeks to lead you through devastating processes. And you need have no fear, for God knows how to apportion suffering…He invariably chooses the lot of each one with this goal in view—an increase of the divine
content in our life. If He chastises us, it is always “what is profitable that we might partake of His holiness” (Heb. 12:10). “All things work together for good to those…who are called according to His purpose” (Rom. 8:28). What good? It is this, that we may be “conformed to the image of His Son” (v. 29). (CWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection,” pp. 20- 21, 24-25)
Further ReadingCWWL, 1957, vol. 3, “The Living God and the God of Resurrection,” ch. 3
