第五週 · 週四

w05d04-ch

📖晨興餧養

路十39 『〔馬大〕有一個妹妹，名叫馬利亞，在主腳前坐着聽祂的話。』

賽三十15 『主耶和華以色列的聖者如此說，你們得救在於歸回安息；你們得力在於平靜信靠；你們竟自不肯。』

我們從馬利亞的身上可以看到，她有一個最好的態度。

（一）她是在主耶穌的腳前，不是在別人的腳前。她在那裏親近主。這就是生命長大最短、最快的路程。時時刻刻親近主，愛主，敬拜主，不住的與主交通，留在與主的同在中—沒有一個辦法能趕得上這一個。許多認識神最深的人，就是找到了這一條路的人。蓋恩夫人說，『親近神，包括了一切的事奉。』保羅也曾說，要不住的禱告（帖前五17）。人若敞着臉和住在他裏面的基督有不斷的交通，結果就要變成主的形像（林後三18）。

（二）她是坐在主的腳前。意思就是說，她把自己擺在一個謙卑的地位上。謙卑是得神祝福最要緊的一個態度，因為神敵擋狂傲的人，賜恩給謙卑的人（彼前五5）。謙卑並非小看自己，乃是不看自己，沒有自己，看自己等於零。我們若常常以極深的謙卑去親近神，神必定賜恩（十二籃第五輯，五四至五五頁）。

📖信息選讀

（三）她是坐着，不像她姐姐那樣忙亂。安靜常是屬靈能力的來源。人最大的難處，就是不能在神面前安靜。…身上的肢體，眼睛是最忙的；在魂的裏面，心思是最忙的。忙亂的人，是最不容易得着啟示的。流蕩的心思，起伏的思潮，好像湖面的波浪一直動盪不休，以致在湖岸的花木不能很清楚的映在湖面上。所以，人若要主的形像印在他的裏面，叫他變成主的形像，就安靜是必需的。

（四）她在那裏聽主的話。主所說的話就是靈，就是生命，好將祂自己分賜給人。她聽主的話，就是給主機會將主的自己交通給她，好叫她得着主，像主。她在那裏一直作一個接受主自己的人。她所聽的不只是聲音，並且是在那裏遇見主。弟兄姊妹，如果你在那裏聽道，只聽見人的聲音，而沒有遇見聲音裏面的基督，那實在是一件可惜的事（十二籃第五輯，五五頁）。

〔在禧年的時候，〕產業與自由，二者都好，但是有一個比較。…你不能說，『我要自由，不要神。』因為沒有神就沒有自由。我們的產業是神，我們的自由來自我們對神的享受。產業是神，自由是享受。你有了產業，…結果你就有了自由。甚麼是自由？自由就是沒有壓制，也沒有缺乏。有的人沒有人壓制他，但是窮得受不了。…窮真是個厲害的捆綁。…感謝神，如今祂是我們的產業；我們享受了神，我們就有自由。

因着我們窮到一個地步，不僅失去了神作我們的產業，並且還把我們自身賣了。…但是到禧年的時候，我們不只歸回產業，歸回神自己，並且我們也得了自由，從奴役之下被釋放出來。今天許多人講自由、民權、人權，然而人若不享受神，是不會有真自由的。…人光講自由，卻不歸回神，結果反而產生許多問題，衍生出許多惡事。…聖經的原則是你要先歸回神，你纔有自由；你若不歸回神而想要自由，結果還是沒有真自由（李常受文集一九八四年第四冊，三一至三四頁）。

參讀：十二籃第五輯，五四至五五頁。

WEEK 5 — DAY 4

Morning Nourishment

Luke 10:39 And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to His word.

Isa. 30:15 For thus says the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, In returning and rest you will be saved; in quietness and in trust will be your strength; but you were not willing.

Mary had a proper attitude.

(1) She was at the feet of the Lord Jesus, and not at the feet of anyone else. She was drawing near to the Lord. This is the shortest and quickest way to grow in life. No method is better than coming to Him moment by moment, loving Him, worshipping Him, and unceasingly fellowshipping with Him and remaining in His presence. Many who know God in a deep way have found this way. Madam Guyon said, “Our drawing near to God constitutes all service.” Paul also charged us to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). If a man unceasingly fellowships with the indwelling Christ with an unveiled face, he will be changed into the Lord’s likeness (2 Cor. 3:18).

(2) She sat at the feet of the Lord. This means that she put herself in a humble position. Humility is a crucial condition for receiving God’s blessing. God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble (1 Pet. 5:5). Humility is not belittling ourselves; humility is ignoring ourselves, negating ourselves, and considering ourselves as nothing. If we draw near to God with deep humility, He will give grace to us. (CWWN, vol. 38, pp. 271-272)

Today’s Reading

(3) She was sitting down,…not busy like her sister. Quietness is often the source of spiritual strength. The greatest challenge man faces is being quiet before the Lord…Of all the members in the body, the eyes are the busiest, and of all the faculties in the soul, the mind is the busiest. Those who are busy cannot receive revelation easily. A wandering mind and vacillating thoughts are like restless waves on a lake; the lake will never be able to clearly reflect the flowers and trees on the shore. If a man wants to have the Lord’s image imprinted in him and to be transformed into the Lord’s image, quietness is a necessity.

(4) She was listening to the Lord’s word. The words that the Lord speaks are spirit and life. Through this word, the Lord dispenses Himself to men. Her listening to the Lord’s word afforded the Lord the opportunity to communicate Himself to her so that she would gain the Lord and become like Him. She was continually receiving the Lord Himself. She did not just hear words; she was meeting the Lord. Brothers and sisters, it is a pity for anyone to just hear man’s voice in a sermon and not meet the Christ behind the voice. (CWWN, vol. 38, p. 272)

[In the jubiee] possession and freedom are both positive, but there is a difference between them…We cannot renounce God, saying that we want freedom instead of God, because without God there is no freedom. Our possession is God, and our freedom comes from our enjoyment of God. When we have…and enjoy our possession, the result is that we have freedom. Freedom is to be without oppression or deficiency. Some people apparently are not oppressed, but they are poor…Poverty is a tremendous bondage… How we thank God that today He is our possession, and when we enjoy Him,
we have freedom!

Because we were poor, we not only lost God as our possession but also sold ourselves as slaves…However, when the year of jubilee comes, we not only are returned to God as our possession, but we also obtain freedom and are released from the bondage of slavery. Today many people talk about freedom, civil rights, and human rights, but if man does not enjoy God, he cannot have real freedom… When people only speak about freedom without being returned to God, the result is that many problems are produced, and many evil things are brought in…The biblical principle is that we must first be returned to God before we can have freedom. If we want to obtain freedom without being returned to God, the result is that we do not have true freedom. (CWWL, 1984, vol. 4, “The Jubilee,” pp. 23-25)

Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 38, pp. 271-272