从迷惘到信靠
严重的绊脚石
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
昨天我们说要展开一段新的旅程,这旅程会显示一些步骤,是我们从迷惘走到信靠,或是从恐惧走到信心所需要采取的。这段特别旅程的地图是旧约一卷小而重要的书卷──哈巴谷的预言。我们对哈巴谷个人生命的背景──他的家庭、父母或职业──知道得很少,但我们知道他是希伯来人,也是耶利米先知同时代的人。
哈巴谷似乎是以向神提出一个尖锐的问题来开始他的先知事奉,那就是今天的经文所提出的问题。好像旧约很多其他的先知一样,哈巴谷因为邪恶的不止息而感到迷惑和沮丧。他不明白为甚么神不介入制止他周围那些不敬虔的列国。全能者在处理这个问题上似乎有耽延,导致他感到十分迷惘和忧虑。那拉莫博士(Clyde Narramore)说:「迷惘是基督徒生命中其中一块最大的绊脚石。它令很多基督徒陷于绝望的边缘。」
多年前,我在美国遇到一个人,他戴着一块刻有B.A.I.K.几个字母的牌。我问他那是甚么意思时,他说:「天啊,我真的很迷惘」(Boy Am I Confused)。我说:「但『迷惘』这个字开头的字母不是K。」他很快地回答:「所以嘛,你看我是多么的迷惘」。你是否为了自己属灵生命的某些事情而感到迷惘?如果是,那就要注意了──神帮助哈巴谷由迷惘走到信靠,祂为哈巴谷所做的事,也会为你做的。
「为甚么神不介入?」
进深研究
诗七十一1-24;雅三16;林前十四33
1. 诗人提出甚么要求?
2. 他的正面认信是甚么?
祈祷
天父,当迷惘围绕我、绊倒我的时候,求您帮助我仍可以跪下感谢您。求您今天把「黎明前的时刻总是最黑暗」这个真理深深印在我的心坎里。阿们。
From Confusion to Confidence
A serious stumbling - block
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
Yesterday we said that we are starting out on a journey that will reveal the steps we need to take in order to move , or from fear to faith. Our map for this special journey is a small but significant book of the Old Testament - the prophecy of Habakkuk. We know very little about the personal details of Habakkuk's life - his home, his parents or his occupation - but we do know that he was a Hebrew and a contemporary of the prophet Jeremiah.
Habakkuk, it seems, began his prophetic ministry by asking God a pointed question - the one posed in our text today. Like many other prophets of the Old Testament, Habakkuk was perplexed and frustrated by the continuance of evil. He could not understand why God did not intervene to restrain the godless nations around him. The Almighty's apparent slowness in dealing with this issue produced within him a good deal of confusion and concern. "Confusion," says Dr Clyde Narramore, "is one of the biggest stumbling-blocks in the Christian life. It has brought many a Christian to the edge of despair."
Some years ago I met a man in the United States of America wearing a badge on which were inscribed the initials B.A.I.K. When I asked him what they meant he said: "Boy Am I Confused". I countered: "But you don't spell 'confused' with a K." He promptly replied: "Well, that shows you how confused I am." Are you confused about something in your spiritual life at this moment? Then take heart - God helped Habakkuk to move . And what He did for Habakkuk, He will also do for you.
"Why did God not intervene?"
Prayer
Father, I am grateful that when confusion surrounds me and I stumble - I can stumble onto my knees. Drive deep into my consciousness today the truth that the darkest hour is always the hour that precedes the dawn. Amen.
Further study
Psalm 71:1-24
James 3:16
1 Corinthians 14:33
1. What was the psalmist's request?
2. What was his positive confession?
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背景音乐版权属 赞美之泉音乐事工 所有,承蒙允准使用。

