從迷惘到信靠
美好的思念
經文
瑪拉基書三8-18
8人豈可奪取神之物呢？你們竟奪取我的供物。你們卻說：我們在何事上奪取你的供物呢？就是你們在當納的十分之一和當獻的供物上。
9因你們通國的人都奪取我的供物，咒詛就臨到你們身上。
10萬軍之耶和華說：你們要將當納的十分之一全然送入倉庫，使我家有糧，以此試試我，是否為你們敞開天上的窗戶，傾福與你們，甚至無處可容。
11萬軍之耶和華說：我必為你們斥責蝗蟲（原文是吞噬者），不容他毀壞你們的土產。你們田間的葡萄樹在未熟之先也不掉果子。
12萬軍之耶和華說：萬國必稱你們為有福的，因你們的地必成為喜樂之地。
13耶和華說：你們用話頂撞我，你們還說：我們用甚麼話頂撞了你呢？
14你們說：事奉神是徒然的，遵守神所吩咐的，在萬軍之耶和華面前苦苦齋戒，有甚麼益處呢？
15如今我們稱狂傲的人為有福，並且行惡的人得建立；他們雖然試探神，卻得脫離災難。
16那時，敬畏耶和華的彼此談論，耶和華側耳而聽，且有記念冊在他面前，記錄那敬畏耶和華、思念他名的人。
17萬軍之耶和華說：在我所定的日子，他們必屬我，特特歸我。我必憐恤他們，如同人憐恤服事自己的兒子。
18那時你們必歸回，將善人和惡人，事奉神的和不事奉神的，分別出來。
信息分享
昨天我們談到哈巴谷先知思念神過去拯救的事實，我們也看到盼望和安慰因此充滿了他的心。
我們今天所處的情況其實比哈巴谷的時代要好一點，因為有更多奇妙的歷史事蹟可以讓我們專注思念。例如：神向先知所啟示的一切全都實現了。迦勒底人確實入侵猶大，將百姓擄到巴比倫。但是神在指定的時間審判了迦勒底人、毀滅他們，又帶領祂餘下的子民回到耶路撒冷去。
不過，我們還可以看得更深入，不只是專注於神怎樣令祂的百姓脫離埃及和巴比倫，更可以思念那更大的拯救，就是神預備了道路，讓我們能夠從撒但的管轄下走向天堂的大門。在舊約，獻祭的羊可以為個人或家庭提供救贖；但在新約，神的羔羊不只是為個人或家庭、而是為整個世界的罪帶來了救贖！
還有更多的事情可以讓我們專注思念，例如主勝過死亡的黑暗，並藉著祂榮耀的復活給我們永恆的保證；就是因為主活著，我們也將活著（約十四19）。這真是一個值得思念的榮耀事實。只要你願意把這些思想常常藏在心中，你肯定會意識到它們對你的感受所造成的影響。
「神所啟示的一切都應驗了」
進深研究
羅八1-39；林後九15；弗二8
1. 我們現在可以向神呼叫甚麼？
2. 耶穌基督的犧牲給我們帶來了甚麼？
祈禱
榮耀的天父，我來到您面前，求您幫助我在今天思念您的信實和能力。我要將我的意念給您，以致我能得著您的意念。奉基督的名字祈求，阿們。
From Confusion to Confidence
Happy Remembrances
Bible reading:
Malachi 3:8-18
8 "Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How are we robbing you?' "In tithes and offerings.
9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me.
10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the Lord Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it.
11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe," says the Lord Almighty.
12 "Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land," says the Lord Almighty.
13 "You have spoken arrogantly against me," says the Lord. "Yet you ask, 'What have we said against you?'
14 "You have said, 'It is futile to serve God. What do we gain by carrying out his requirements and going about like mourners before the Lord Almighty?
15 But now we call the arrogant blessed. Certainly evildoers prosper, and even when they put God to the test, they get away with it.'"
16 Then those who feared the Lord talked with each other, and the Lord listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the Lord and honored his name.
17 "On the day when I act," says the Lord Almighty, "they will be my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son who serves him.
18 And you will again see the distinction between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.
Message
Yesterday we looked at some of the things which the prophet brought to mind concerning God's past deliverances and we saw how these remembrances filled his heart with hope and consolation.
Today we are in a better position than Habakkuk, for we have even more wonderful facts on which to focus our thinking. We can see, for example, how everything that was revealed to the prophet was literally fulfilled. The Chaldeans did indeed invade Judah and carried people into captivity in Babylon. But at the appointed time, God brought judgment on the Chaldeans and destroyed them and caused a remnant of His people to return to Jerusalem.
However, we can go still further. We can focus not just on the fact of how God made a way for His people to come out of Egypt and Babylon, but on the greater deliverance which He engineered when He made a path to bring us from the dominion of Satan to the very doors of heaven. In the Old Testament, a sacrificial lamb could provide redemption for an individual or a family. But in the New Testament, the Lamb of God purchased redemption not just for an individual or a family but for the sins of the whole world!
And there is yet more. We can focus on the glorious fact that our Lord has overcome the darkness of death, and by His glorious resurrection has given us the eternal pledge that because He lives, we shall live also (John 14:19). Keep these thoughts in mind throughout this day, and I promise you - you will know the effect of them in your feelings.
"Everything revealed was literally fulfilled"
Prayer
Glorious Father, I come to You to ask for Your help in keeping these remembrances of Your faithfulness and power before me this day. I give You my mind - so that You can give me Yours. In Christ's Name I ask it. Amen.
Further study
Romans 8:1-39
2 Corinthians 9:15
Ephesians 2:8
1. What can we now cry out to God?
2. What is available to us through Christ's sacrifice?
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