奧古斯丁企圖逃離神所讓他看到的事物，可是他每到一個以為是安全的地方都遭到驅逐。我們必須做錢普尼斯（Thomas Champness）所做的事（也就是我們前幾天提到的講員）。我們必須順從神讓我們看到的事情，並要接受一個事實──神知道甚麼是最好。神對錢普尼斯說：「作為講員，不要在乎你個人的榮譽」，這句話讓他掙扎了一段時間，最後才完全的順服神。後來當被人問到他所付出的代價時，他說：「我經過泰恩河大橋的時候，已把我個人的名譽拋了進河裡」。而神給他順服的回報，讓他成為榮耀的靈魂收割者。

請讓我提醒你，我們與神展開對話時往往需要冒險，那就是說，當你向神祈求亮光的時候，神所向你顯示出來的可能超過你的祈求。它可能令你裡面顫抖。不過，當那情況發生時要讓它繼續下去；如果你滿足神的要求，正視光所顯示的東西，那顫抖就會過去，你也能印證以賽亞的話的真實：神會「使軟弱的手堅壯，無力的膝穩固。對膽怯的人說，你們要剛強，不要懼怕。看哪，你們的神必來……」（賽三十五3-4）。

「神知道甚麼才是最好的」

進深研究
約壹1-10，二9；弗五8；林後四6

1. 我們要怎樣行？
2. 結果會怎樣？

祈禱
天父啊，當我祈求亮光，而那令我懾服的光給我帶來我不期望的答案時，求您幫助我不要退縮，勇敢的在光中行走……正如您在光中一樣。阿們。

From Confusion to Confidence

Day 79

"March on..."

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." (v.9)

Bible reading:
2 Corinthians 12:1-10

1 I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.

3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows—

4 was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things, things that no one is permitted to tell.

5 I will boast about a man like that, but I will not boast about myself, except about my weaknesses.

6 Even if I should choose to boast, I would not be a fool, because I would be speaking the truth. But I refrain, so no one will think more of me than is warranted by what I do or say,

7 or because of these surpassingly great revelations. Therefore, in order to keep me from becoming conceited, I was given a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me.

8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me.

9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.

10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Message

We spend one more day discussing the "pain of answered prayer". What do we do when we receive an answer to our prayers that causes us to tremble in the blinding light of a new revelation? We must go into the light with God. Pain or no pain - there must be no going back - we must march on.

Augustine tried to run away from what God had shown him, but he was driven out of every false place of refuge. We must do what Thomas Champness - the preacher we referred to the other day - did: we must yield to what God has shown us and come to terms with the fact that, after all, God knows best. When God said to Thomas Champness: "You must be careless of your reputation as a preacher," he struggled for a while but eventually he yielded. Speaking of the effort it cost him, he said: "I threw my reputation into the Tyne as I crossed the high-level bridge." In return for his obedience, God made him a glorious harvester of souls.

I remind you again of the risks you take when you enter into dialogue with God. The light you ask for may reveal more than you wish. It may be turned to trembling within you. But I plead with you, when that happens - go on. If you will live up to the demands God makes and face squarely what the light reveals, the trembling will pass and you will prove the truth of Isaiah's words: He will "strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; say to those with fearful hearts, 'Be strong, do not fear, your God will come... "(Isa 35:3-4).

"God knows best"

Prayer
O Father, in those moments when I am overwhelmed by the light that I asked for but which brought answers I did not expect, help me not to pull back but to walk in the light... as You are in the light. Amen.

Further study
1 John 1:1-10; 2:9
Ephesians 5:8
2 Corinthians 4:6

1. How are we to walk?
2. What will be the result?

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