新視域的力量
不必倚靠航位推算
經文
使徒行傳二十六1-18
1亞基帕對保羅說：准你為自己辯明。於是保羅伸手分訴，說：
2亞基帕王阿，猶太人所告我的一切事，今日得在你面前分訴，實為萬幸；
3更可幸的，是你熟悉猶太人的規矩和他們的辯論；所以求你耐心聽我。
4我從起初在本國的民中，並在耶路撒冷，自幼為人如何，猶太人都知道。
5他們若肯作見證就曉得，我從起初是按著我們教中最嚴緊的教門作了法利賽人。
6現在我站在這裡受審，是因為指望神向我們祖宗所應許的；
7這應許，我們十二個支派，晝夜切切的事奉神，都指望得著。王阿，我被猶太人控告，就是因這指望。
8神叫死人復活，你們為甚麼看作不可信的呢？
9從前我自己以為應當多方攻擊拿撒勒人耶穌的名，
10我在耶路撒冷也曾這樣行了。既從祭司長得了權柄，我就把許多聖徒囚在監裡。他們被殺，我也出名定案。
11在各會堂，我屢次用刑強逼他們說褻瀆的話，又分外惱恨他們，甚至追逼他們，直到外邦的城邑。
12那時，我領了祭司長的權柄和命令，往大馬色去。
13王阿，我在路上，晌午的時候，看見從天發光，比日頭還亮，四面照著我並與我同行的人。
14我們都仆倒在地，我就聽見有聲音用希伯來話向我說：掃羅！掃羅！為甚麼逼迫我？你用腳踢刺是難的！
15我說：主阿，你是誰？主說：我就是你所逼迫的耶穌。
16你起來站著，我特意向你顯現，要派你作執事，作見證，將你所看見的事和我將要指示你的事證明出來。
17我也要救你脫離百姓和外邦人的手。
18我差你到他們那裡去，要叫他們的眼睛得開，從黑暗中歸向光明，從撒但權下歸向神；又因信我，得蒙赦罪，和一切成聖的人同得基業。
信息分享
我們所能夠全面地察看生命的地方，就只有是在神的聖所中，或者說，在有神同在之處。當我們在神那裡時我們那些忘記了或忽略了的事情都會得到提醒。英文聖經其中一個譯本Good News Bible對使徒行傳二十六章9節的翻譯是：「我自己以為我應該盡一切努力對抗拿撒勒人耶穌。」你看到保羅的問題的根源嗎？那是「我自己以為」。這不也是我們很多問題背後的原因？我們說：「我自己以為……」而不是問：「神有甚麼想法？」
有時水手們會以他們航行的距離和方向，不是靠天文觀察，來確定船隻的位置，這稱為「航位推算」。當天氣惡劣的時候確實有這麼做的必要，但這其實是非常危險的。有一位海員說：「因為不恰當的航位推算，而造成一些本來經得起風浪的船隻的沉沒，比所有其它因素加起來所造成的沉沒更多。」
有些人以類似航位推算的方法來對待生命的航行，但這是沒有必要的。神已經為我們在聖經裡以慈愛繪畫了地圖，我們的責任是研究地圖，藉以明白祂的目的和道路。因為我們越認識聖經，便越認識神。我們不能忽略歷史或科學事實所提供的幫助，但如果我們所走的沒有按著聖經的指示，就很容易迷失方向。我們不能倚賴航位的推算，必須倚靠神聖的定向。
「我們必須倚靠神聖的定向」
進深研究
士十七1-6，二十一25
1. 經文對關於以色列的後代說了些甚麼？
2. 它們所說的對我們是否能起同樣的作用？
祈禱
天父，在海面航行需要以準確和固定的點來定位，我生命的航程也是這樣。親愛的天父，我很感謝您，因為在您裡面有我所需要的所有定位點。阿們。
The Power of a New Perspective
No need for dead reckoning
Bible reading:
Acts 26:1-18
1 Then Agrippa said to Paul, "You have permission to speak for yourself." So Paul motioned with his hand and began his defense:
2 "King Agrippa, I consider myself fortunate to stand before you today as I make my defense against all the accusations of the Jews,
3 and especially so because you are well acquainted with all the Jewish customs and controversies. Therefore, I beg you to listen to me patiently.
4 "The Jewish people all know the way I have lived ever since I was a child, from the beginning of my life in my own country, and also in Jerusalem.
5 They have known me for a long time and can testify, if they are willing, that I conformed to the strictest sect of our religion, living as a Pharisee.
6 And now it is because of my hope in what God has promised our ancestors that I am on trial today.
7 This is the promise our twelve tribes are hoping to see fulfilled as they earnestly serve God day and night. King Agrippa, it is because of this hope that these Jews are accusing me.
8 Why should any of you consider it incredible that God raises the dead?
9 "I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
10 And that is just what I did in Jerusalem. On the authority of the chief priests I put many of the Lord's people in prison, and when they were put to death, I cast my vote against them.
11 Many a time I went from one synagogue to another to have them punished, and I tried to force them to blaspheme. I was so obsessed with persecuting them that I even hunted them down in foreign cities.
12 "On one of these journeys I was going to Damascus with the authority and commission of the chief priests.
13 About noon, King Agrippa, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions.
14 We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic,[a] 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.'
15 "Then I asked, 'Who are you, Lord?' " 'I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting,' the Lord replied.
16 'Now get up and stand on your feet. I have appeared to you to appoint you as a servant and as a witness of what you have seen and will see of me.
17 I will rescue you from your own people and from the Gentiles. I am sending you to them
18 to open their eyes and turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, so that they may receive forgiveness of sins and a place among those who are sanctified by faith in me.'
Message
The place where we can see life as a whole is in the sanctuary of God, or, if you prefer, in the presence of God. There we are reminded of things we have forgotten or ignored. See how the Good News Bible translates Acts 26:9: "I myself thought that I should do everything I could against the cause of Jesus of Nazareth." Here you see the root of Paul's problem: "I myself thought". And is not that the underlying cause of many of our problems too? We say, "I myself thought..." instead of asking: "What does God think?"
Sometimes sailors will attempt to establish the position of their ships by estimating the distance and direction they have travelled, rather than by astronomical observation. This is called "dead reckoning". It is sometimes necessary in foul weather but it is fraught with peril. One mariner has said: "Undue trust in the dead reckoning has produced more disastrous shipwrecks of seaworthy ships than all other causes put together."
There are people who attempt the voyage of life by dead reckoning, but there is no need. God has charted the map for us with loving care in the Scriptures, and our plain duty is to study the chart so that we might become better acquainted with His purposes and His ways. For the better we know the Scriptures, the better we will know God. We cannot ignore the facts of history or science - they help - but if our perspective is not drawn from the Scriptures it will lead us astray. We must not rely on dead reckoning but on divine reckoning.
"We must rely on divine reckoning"
Prayer
O Father, just as the art of navigation requires definite and fixed points from which to take a bearing, so does my voyage through life. I am grateful, dear Father, that in You I have all the fixed points I need. Amen.
Further study
Judges 17:1-6; 21:25
1. What was said of the children of Israel?
2. Can the same be said of us?
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