新视域的力量
难解的问题

经文
哈巴谷书一1-4
1先知哈巴谷所得的默示。
2他说:耶和华啊!我呼求你,你不应允,要到几时呢?我因强暴哀求你,你还不拯救。
3你为何使我看见罪孽?你为何看着奸恶而不理呢?毁灭和强暴在我面前,又起了争端和相斗的事。
4因此律法放松,公理也不显明,恶人围困义人,所以公理显然颠倒。
信息分享
我们前几天一直在讨论「为甚么我们有时会满足于容易找到的答案」,今天我们将继续思考这个问题。当我们为耶稣基督而生活,每天都必须面对许多难解的问题,例如:我应该让儿女看某个电视节目吗?神是否带领我接受一份新工作?为甚么我会那么容易堕入试探?我应该听从医生的吩咐服食抗抑郁药物吗?……种种需要我们作决定的问题显示出我们的犹豫,让我们不能不承认我们对生活的事物总是存有那么多的疑惑。
圣经清楚地处理某些问题,但对某些问题却没有给我们清晰的教导。有时我们需要与不能确定的事情挣扎一番。我们被教导要继续停留在疑虑中,这种说法有时实在不容易接受,因为我们内心存在一股很大的压力,迫切的需要把疑惑减低到可以被忽略的地步。焦虑的情绪推动我们去为自己的世界寻求安定的秩序,也就是因此导致我们变得十分脆弱。
多年前我曾经感到相当困扰,我不认同那些医治布道的做法,我觉得那是很不负责的行为,但我不明白为甚么有些聪明的基督徒会接受这观念,情愿付出大笔金钱、放弃正统的治疗转而去做一些古怪的事情。后来我明白了,因为这些「医治者」为求助者以及他们的家人提供一些能带来希望的「答案」,而这些所谓的答案比怀着疑虑来生活更容易让人接受。神确实会医治病人,但有的时候祂却不这样做,不管我们是多么迫切的祈求。我们如何处理这种疑虑的困扰,完全是取决于我们属灵生命成熟的程度。
「给我信心去相信」
进深研究
雅五1-7;诗十三1,六十九3,一一九82;彼后三9
1. 雅各说我们需要甚么?
2. 彼得肯定甚么?
祈祷
天父,求您赐给我信心,在不确定的疑惑中坚定的相信您。不要让我轻易的对「答案」感到满足;求您帮助我在不管有没有答案的情况下,也能够继续等候。阿们。
The Power of a New Perspective
Some tough questions

Bible reading:
Habakkuk 1:1-4
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.
Message
We continue thinking through the issue of why it is that we settle for easy answers. Every day we face tough questions as we live our lives for Jesus Christ. Should I let my children watch a certain television programme? Is God leading me into a new job? Why am I so prone to fall under the power of temptation? Should I use anti-depressants as the doctor says I should? These and other questions demand decisions that expose our uncertainty and force us to recognise how deeply confused we are about certain issues
The Bible addresses some issues clearly, but on others it is not so clear. Sometimes we have to struggle with uncertainty. It is unappealing to be told that we have to go on in the midst of confusion, and we feel a great inner pressure to reduce the confusion to a point where it can be ignored. Motivated by anxiety, we seek to impose an order on our world - and it is at this point that we become extremely vulnerable.
In earlier years I used to be deeply perplexed about why intelligent Christian people bought into the ideas of some of the less responsible healing evangelists, who got them to pledge huge sums of money, give up medical treatment and do the strangest things. But then I realised that these men were providing the people who came to them with hopeful "answers" about their physical condition or that of their loved ones, and this was easier than living with confusion. God does heal, but sometimes He doesn't - no matter how hard we pray. And the way we handle this confusion determines our spiritual maturity.
"Give me the faith to believe"
Prayer
O Father, give me the faith to believe in You in the midst of uncertainty and perplexity. Don't let me settle for an "answer" simply because it relieves my confusion. I know You do have answers, but help me go on even when they do not come. Amen.
Further study
James 5:1-7
Psalm 13:1; 69:3; 119:82
2 Peter 3:9
1. What does James say we are in need of?
2. What does Peter confirm?
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