从迷惘到信靠
不该有的生活
经文
哈巴谷书二15-19
15给人酒喝、又加上毒物、使他喝醉、好看见他下体的有祸了!
16你满受羞辱,不得荣耀;你也喝吧,显出是未受割礼的!耶和华右手的杯必传到你那里;你的荣耀就变为大大地羞辱。
17你向利巴嫩行强暴与残害惊吓野兽的事必遮盖你;因你杀人流血,向国内的城并城中一切居民施行强暴。
18雕刻的偶像,人将他刻出来,有什么益处呢?铸造的偶像就是虚谎的师傅。制造者倚靠这哑巴偶像有什么益处呢?
19对木偶说:醒起!对哑巴石像说:起来!那人有祸了!这个还能教训人吗?看哪,是包裹金银的,其中毫无气息。
信息分享
今天我们继续接着前两天的讨论,看神向邪恶残暴的迦勒底人宣告的最后两个祸。第四个祸(15-17节)和迦勒底人实行的「焦土」政策有关,包括破坏森林和消灭动物。(两者都是神关心的──参申命记二十19和约拿书四11。)神说这种暴行本身包含着导至自己毁灭的种子:「你向利巴嫩行强暴与残害惊吓野兽的事必遮盖你……」(17节)。
五个祸患里面一再出现的主题是罪会毁灭罪人。这个主题在第五个、也是最后一个祸(18-19节)中再次出现。这个祸是指向拜偶像的人,揭露他那无法解释的愚蠢行为。「对木偶说:『醒起!』对哑巴石像说:『起来!』那人有祸了!」(19节)这句话指出拜偶像是十分有害的行动,因为牠破坏人的基本智慧。正如有人说:「拜偶像最糟糕的事情,就是在于那个拜偶像的人本身。」
我们眼前所看到的是历史的重演──人类仰望自己所塑造的偶像,来拯救自己免遭死亡和毁灭。这是多么可悲的事!除了神以外,我们不能将自己交托给任何其他的力量。世界一直在给我们许多教训,告诉我们什么是不该有的生活方式;来到这个地步,人类是不是已应该预备好接受主耶稣的道路呢?
「不安的心惟有在主里面才能找到安息」
进深研究
罗一18-32;出二十4-5;利二十六1;申十一16
1. 人以什么交换神的荣耀?
2. 结果怎样?
祈祷
天父,尽管人类在不应该过的生活上吸取了许多痛苦和沮丧的教训,可悲的是他们依旧不接受主耶稣的道路。求您帮助他们早日寻找到当走的路。奉耶稣的名祈求,阿们。
From Confusion to Confidence
Finding out how not to live
Bible reading:
Habakkuk 2:15-19
15 "Woe to him who gives drink to his neighbors, pouring it from the wineskin till they are drunk, so that he can gaze on their naked bodies!
16 You will be filled with shame instead of glory. Now it is your turn! Drink and let your nakedness be exposed[a]! The cup from the Lord's right hand is coming around to you,
17 The violence you have done to Lebanon will overwhelm you, and your destruction of animals will terrify you. For you have shed human blood; you have destroyed lands and cities and everyone in them.
18 "Of what value is an idol carved by a craftsman? Or an image that teaches lies? For the one who makes it trusts in his own creation;
19 Woe to him who says to wood, 'Come to life!' Or to lifeless stone, 'Wake up!' Can it give guidance? It is covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it."
Message
Today we look at the last two woes which God pronounced on the evil and cruel Chaldeans. The fourth woe (vv.15-17) had to do with the "scorched earth" policy operated by the Chaldeans, which involved deforestation and the destruction of animals. (Both are a matter of divine concern - see Deuteronomy. 20:19 and Jonah 4:11.) Such outrage, says God, carries within it the seeds of its own destruction: "You cut down the forests of Lebanon - now you will be cut down! You terrified the wild animals... Now terror will strike you" (v.17, TLB).
The recurrent theme of the five woes, namely that sin recoils upon the sinner, sounds once more in the fifth and final one (vv.18-19). This woe is uttered upon the idolater and exposes the inexplicable folly of his practice. The words, "Woe to those who command their lifeless wooden idols to arise and save them, who call out to the speechless stone to tell them what to do" (v.18, TLB), demonstrate that idolatry is not something that is innocuous; indeed, it is deeply injurious because it destroys man's basic intelligence. As someone has put it: "The worst thing about idolatry is to be the one who practises the idolatry."
How sad that, right before our eyes, we see history repeating itself as, once again, humanity looks to the idols which it has set up in the world to save itself from death and destruction. We cannot trust ourselves to any other power but God - not even the United Nations. The world has had so many lessons in how not to live, you would think its people would now be ready to try the Way.
"Sin recoils upon the sinner"
Prayer
O Father, how sad it is that despite the fact that people have had so many lessons in how not to live - lessons that have left them exhausted and frustrated - they still do not turn to the Way. Help them find it - and find it soon. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
Romans 1:18-32
Exodus 20:4-5
Leviticus 26:1
Deuteronomy 11:16
1. For what did men exchange the glory of God?
2. What was the result?
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