害怕死去的麦子
谴责苍天
经文
约伯记五1-16
1你且呼求，有谁答应你？诸圣者之中，你转向哪一位呢？
2忿怒害死愚妄人；嫉妒杀死痴迷人。
3我曾见愚妄人扎下根，但我忽然咒诅他的住处。
4他的儿女远离稳妥的地步，在城门口被压，并无人搭救。
5他的庄稼有饥饿的人吃尽了，就是在荆棘里的也抢去了；他的财宝有网罗张口吞灭了。
6祸患原不是从土中出来；患难也不是从地里发生。
7人生在世必遇患难，如同火星飞腾。
8至于我，我必仰望神，把我的事情托付他。
9他行大事不可测度，行奇事不可胜数：
10降雨在地上，赐水于田里；
11将卑微的安置在高处，将哀痛的举到稳妥之地；
12破坏狡猾人的计谋，使他们所谋的不得成就。
13他叫有智慧的中了自己的诡计，使狡诈人的计谋速速灭亡。
14他们白昼遇见黑暗，午间摸索如在夜间。
15神拯救穷乏人脱离他们口中的刀和强暴人的手。
16这样，贫寒的人有指望，罪孽之辈必塞口无言。
信息分享
现在让我们来聚焦于所探讨的主题的另一面，就是那颗害怕死去的麦子。我们已逐渐掌握到圣经其中一个最伟大的真理，那就是舍弃生命的反而得着生命，种子落在地里死去才能结出果子。要是我们坚持只靠自己，只倚赖人的资源，那么我们的生命只能是肤浅并且不结果子。我们拒绝付上「舍己」的代价，最后就会发现自己所付上的竟然是死寂生命的代价。
在我们的生命里有一处地方会呼喊着不要遭遇痛苦，但如果我们愿意付出自己、承受苦难的话，我们就会得到属灵上丰盛的收获。今天的经文提醒我们，「人生在世必遇患难，如同火星飞腾」，我们当中没有人会无缘无故的为这些话的真实性而感到哀伤。有一位喜欢观察现代人类处境的人这样描述：
孩子，世界是黑暗的，充满哀伤和死寂
太黑暗了，人们唯有高声谴责苍天。
我相信没有甚么比难担的苦难更令人要「高声谴责苍天」。英国作家沃波尔（Horace Walpole）说：「对善于思考的人来说，生命是喜剧；对善于感受的人来说，生命是悲剧。」很少人是不会「感受」的，难道对大部分人来说生命就是一场悲剧？神没有使祂的儿子免受苦难，祂做了更美好的事；所以当我们面对难担的苦难时，只要沿着这「更美好的事」的思路就可以找到正确的答案。
「难道生命对大部分人来说都是悲剧？」
进深研究
诗一一六1-19，七十一20；耶八15
1. 诗人在困难时做些甚么？
2. 他有甚么样的见证？
祈祷
神我的父啊，我必须找到苦难的钥匙，因为我要开启生命和丰盛事奉的大门，并通过它走向胜利。求您今天帮助我找到那根钥匙。奉耶稣的名求，阿们。
The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die
"Men cry out against the heavens"
Bible reading:
Job 5:1-16
1 "Call if you will, but who will answer you? To which of the holy ones will you turn?
2 Resentment kills a fool, and envy slays the simple.
3 I myself have seen a fool taking root, but suddenly his house was cursed.
4 His children are far from safety, crushed in court without a defender.
5 The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6 For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
8 "But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.
10 He provides rain for the earth; he sends water on the countryside.
11 The lowly he sets on high, and those who mourn are lifted to safety.
12 He thwarts the plans of the crafty, so that their hands achieve no success.
13 He catches the wise in their craftiness, and the schemes of the wily are swept away.
14 Darkness comes upon them in the daytime; at noon they grope as in the night.
15 He saves the needy from the sword in their mouth; he saves them from the clutches of the powerful.
16 So the poor have hope, and injustice shuts its mouth.
Message
We now focus on yet another aspect of our theme - . Slowly we are coming to grips with one of the greatest truths of Scripture, namely that life comes through the giving of life, and fruitfulness through falling into the ground and dying. When we remain by ourselves, using only human resources, our lives will turn out to be shallow and fruitless. Refusing to pay the ultimate price of giving ourselves, we find ourselves paying the price of the deadness of life itself.
Another area of life from which we often cry out to be exempted, but one which, if we are willing to give ourselves, yields great spiritual fruitfulness, is the area of unmerited suffering. Our text for today reminds us that "man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward", and there are few of us who have not had cause to lament the truth of those words. A more modern observer of the human condition puts it thus:
My son, the world is dark with griefs and graves
So dark that men cry out against the heavens.
I suppose there is nothing that makes people "cry out against the heavens" so much as the anguish that comes through unmerited suffering. Horace Walpole said: "To those who think, life is comedy, to those who feel, life is tragedy" There are few of us who do not "feel" - so is life a tragedy to most? God did not deliver His Son from suffering - He did something better. And it is along this line of the "something better" that we will find the answer to unmerited suffering.
"Is life a tragedy to most"
Prayer
O God my Father, I must find the key to this issue of unmerited suffering. For the doors of life and fruitful service will be closed to me unless I know how to open them and walk through to victory. Help me to find that key. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
Psalm 116:1-19; 71:20
Jeremiah 8:15
1. What did the psalmist do in trouble?
2. What was his testimony?
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