神的異象
底線
經文
哈巴谷書一1-17
1先知哈巴谷所得的默示。
2他說:耶和華啊!我呼求你,你不應允,要到幾時呢?
我因強暴哀求你,你還不拯救。
3你為何使我看見罪孽?你為何看著奸惡而不理呢?
毀滅和強暴在我面前,又起了爭端和相鬥的事。
4因此律法放鬆,公理也不顯明,惡人圍困義人,所以公理顯然顛倒。
5耶和華說:你們要向列國中觀看,大大驚奇;
因為在你們的時候,我行一件事,雖有人告訴你們,你們總是不信。
6我必興起迦勒底人,就是那殘忍暴躁之民,
通行遍地,佔據那不屬自己的住處。
7他威武可畏,判斷和勢力都任意發出。
8他的馬比豹更快,比晚上的豺狼更猛。
馬兵踴躍爭先,都從遠方而來;他們飛跑如鷹抓食,
9都為行強暴而來,定住臉面向前,將擄掠的人聚集,多如塵沙。
10他們譏誚君王,笑話首領,嗤笑一切保障,築壘攻取。
11他以自己的勢力為神,像風猛然掃過,顯為有罪。
12耶和華─我的神,我的聖者啊,你不是從亙古而有嗎?
我們必不致死。耶和華啊,你派定他為要刑罰人;磐石啊,你設立他為要懲治人。
13你眼目清潔,不看邪僻,不看奸惡;行詭詐的,你為何看著不理呢?
惡人吞滅比自己公義的,你為何靜默不語呢?
14你為何使人如海中的魚,又如沒有管轄的爬物呢?
15他用鉤鉤住,用網捕獲,用拉網聚集他們;因此,他歡喜快樂,
16就向網獻祭,向網燒香,因他由此得肥美的分和富裕的食物。
17他豈可屢次倒空網羅,將列國的人時常殺戮,毫不顧惜呢?
信息分享
今天,讓我們繼續來聚焦於:按神自己的本性接受神,而不是以我們的喜好來塑造心裡的神,這個重要的觀點。
很多基督徒對神感到失望,是因為他們沒有畫下「底線」,就是在神下面畫的一條線。當我們不明白某種發生的情況時,「底線」便會替神作解釋。那麼,這「底線」究竟是甚麼?是不是「神是治療者」的這個事實呢?我認為不是。因為如果是這樣的話,每個人都應該得到醫治。既然不是,那是不是「神是我們的援救者」呢?不,這也不對,因為有時雖然我們要求得到解救,但神卻完全沒有援救我們。我並不是說神不醫治或者不解救我們,只不過這些都不是神性的「底線」。如果我們把這些作為「底線」的話,便會好像今天這段經文中的哈巴谷一樣迷惘,他承認自己不明白神為甚麼不為祂的百姓行動。
對神來說,「底線」並非援救、醫治、保護或任何類似的東西。神不時顯示自己有能力做這些事情,但我們卻不應該把它們看為理所當然。神有時醫治我們,有時不這樣做;有時解救我們,有時也不這樣做;祂有時保護我們免受痛苦或意外,有時卻容許這些事情發生。對這個問題我們當如何能夠有個清楚的認識?除非我們有「底線」,否則便沒有辦法明白。那麼這「底線」究竟是甚麼呢?我明天會告訴你。
「哪怕我們不明白神的行動,也需要完全相信祂」
進深研究
傳七15;詩七十三1-28
1. 傳道書的作者指明甚麼?
2. 詩人為了甚麼而掙扎?
祈禱
我的父、我的神,求您幫助我好像哈巴谷那樣,由迷惘走向信靠,儘管在我不能明白您時,請您也將我所需要的理解和堅定的信心賜給我。奉耶穌的名祈求。阿們。
The Vision of God
The bottom line
Bible reading:
Habakkuk 1:1-17
1 The prophecy that Habakkuk the prophet received.
2 How long, Lord, must I call for help, but you do not listen? Or cry out to you, "Violence!" but you do not save?
3 Why do you make me look at injustice? Why do you tolerate wrongdoing? Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.
4 Therefore the law is paralyzed, and justice never prevails. The wicked hem in the righteous, so that justice is perverted.
5 "Look at the nations and watch— and be utterly amazed. For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told.
6 I am raising up the Babylonians,[a] that ruthless and impetuous people, who sweep across the whole earth to seize dwellings not their own.
7 They are a feared and dreaded people; they are a law to themselves and promote their own honor.
8 Their horses are swifter than leopards, fiercer than wolves at dusk. Their cavalry gallops headlong; their horsemen come from afar. They fly like an eagle swooping to devour;
9 they all come intent on violence. Their hordes[b] advance like a desert wind and gather prisoners like sand.
10 They mock kings and scoff at rulers. They laugh at all fortified cities; by building earthen ramps they capture them.
11 Then they sweep past like the wind and go on— guilty people, whose own strength is their god."
12 Lord, are you not from everlasting? My God, my Holy One, you[c] will never die. You, Lord, have appointed them to execute judgment; you, my Rock, have ordained them to punish.
13 Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrongdoing. Why then do you tolerate the treacherous? Why are you silent while the wicked swallow up those more righteous than themselves?
14 You have made people like the fish in the sea, like the sea creatures that have no ruler.
15 The wicked foe pulls all of them up with hooks, he catches them in his net, he gathers them up in his dragnet; and so he rejoices and is glad.
16 Therefore he sacrifices to his net and burns incense to his dragnet, for by his net he lives in luxury and enjoys the choicest food.
17 Is he to keep on emptying his net, destroying nations without mercy?
Message
We continue focusing on the importance of seeing God as He really is, not as we would like Him to be.
The reason so many Christians become disappointed with God is because they do not have what can best be described as a "bottom line" - a line we draw under God. When we cannot make sense of a situation, the "bottom line" explains Him. So what is this "bottom line"? Is it the fact that God is Healer? I suggest not, for, if it was, then everyone should be healed. Is it that God is our Deliverer? No, not even that, for there are times when, despite our demands to be delivered, He makes no attempt to rescue us. Now I am not saying that God does not heal, or that He does not deliver us, but these aspects of His character are not the "bottom line". If we make them the "bottom line", we will become as confused as Habakkuk was in today's passage, when he confessed that he could not understand why God did not come through for His people.
The "bottom line", as it relates to God, is not deliverance, or healing, or protection, or any similar thing. He demonstrates His ability to do these things from time to time, but they are not to be seen as inevitable. Sometimes He heals and sometimes He doesn't. Sometimes He delivers and sometimes He doesn't. Sometimes He protects us from afflictions and accidents, and other times He allows them to happen. How do we make sense of all this? We can't unless we have a "bottom line"? So what is this "bottom line"? I will tell you tomorrow.
"We need to trust God even when we cannot trace Him"
Prayer
My Father and my God, help me move, as Habakkuk did, from confusion to confidence, and give me the understanding and convictions I need to trust You even when I cannot trace You. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.
Further study
Ecclesiastes 7:15
Psalm 73:1-28
1. To what point had the writer of Ecclesiastes come?
2. What was the psalmist struggling with?
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