今天我們繼續昨天的討論：如果我們能夠接受自己不會立刻明白神所做的事情和旨意，那麼我們的困惑就會大大的減少。我們必須接受基督徒生命的其中一個基本原則──神的處事方式有很多是與我們認為祂應有的做法正好相反。要是我在早年的基督徒生命過程中有接受過這樣的教導，我就能免去很多屬靈上的掙扎。我大部分的疑惑都是因為我不明白我是在與一個全能的思維打交道──神的想法跟我的想法不同。

神的道路深不可測，祂的思想是無限和永恆的，祂的目的超乎理解。我們與這麼偉大和全能的神相交時，祂容許一些令我們感到困惑的事情發生完全不足為奇。倘若我們堅持生命中的一切都要清楚明白，那麼我們就會與詩人處於相同的境況中──充滿疑惑、幻滅和恐懼。

不過我們要留意，疑惑不一定就是罪。惟有當我們容許疑惑令我們感到絕望時，疑惑才是錯的。正如今天的經文顯示，使徒保羅疑惑，但卻不至失望。所以你得小心理解這個分別。我們如果說：「我不知道發生了甚麼。」這沒有甚麼不對；但若是說：「神不知道發生了甚麼。」那就是極其愚昧無知了。

Today we stay with the thought that half our spiritual perplexities would never arise if we started out by being prepared not to understand immediately the things that God does or allows. We must accept that one of the fundamental principles of the Christian life is the truth that there will be many times when God will work things out in a manner exactly opposite to the way we think He should. If I had been taught this in the early days of my Christian life, it would have saved me from many spiritual struggles. Most of my perplexities arose because I failed to realise that I was dealing with a mind that is omniscient - that God's mind is not like my mind.

The ways of God are inscrutable; His mind is infinite and eternal and His purposes are beyond understanding. When we are dealing with such a great and mighty God it should not surprise us that He allows things to happen which we find perplexing. If we insist that everything in life should be plain, we shall soon find ourselves in the state in which the psalmist found himself - full of doubt, disillusionment and fear.

We should note, however, that perplexity is not necessarily sinful. It only becomes wrong when we allow our perplexity to drive us to despair. The apostle Paul, as our text for today shows us, was perplexed but he was not in despair. Make sure you understand the distinction. It is not foolish or wrong to say: "I don't know what is happening. It is only foolish to say: "God doesn't know what is happening."