新视域的力量
吟诵经验

经文
哥林多前书十1-13
1弟兄们,我不愿意你们不晓得,我们的祖宗从前都在云下,都从海中经过,
2都在云里、海里受洗归了摩西;
3并且都吃了一样的灵食,
4也都喝了一样的灵水。所喝的,是出于随着他们的灵磐石;那磐石就是基督。
5但他们中间多半是神不喜欢的人,所以在旷野倒毙。
6这些事都是我们的鉴戒,叫我们不要贪恋恶事,像他们那样贪恋的;
7也不要拜偶像,像他们有人拜的。如经上所记:百姓坐下吃喝,起来玩耍。
8我们也不要行奸淫,像他们有人行的,一天就倒毙了二万三千人;
9也不要试探主(有古卷:基督),像他们有人试探的,就被蛇所灭。
10你们也不要发怨言,像他们有发怨言的,就被灭命的所灭。
11他们遭遇这些事,都要作为鉴戒;并且写在经上,正是警戒我们这末世的人。
12所以,自己以为站得稳的,须要谨慎,免得跌倒。
13你们所遇见的试探,无非是人所能受的。神是信实的,必不叫你们受试探过于所能受的;在受试探的时候,总要给你们开一条出路,叫你们能忍受得住。
信息分享
我们花了几天的时间找出令诗人几乎放弃的原因后,今天要停下来专注诗篇另一个重大的价值──它以吟诵经验的方式提出它的教导。新约有相同的教导,但是以更具指导性的形式展示出来。
有时在生活的压力下我们的心灵会感到疲乏,因而不愿意接受任何人的直接指示。我记得自己年青时,有一个晚上,我到教会去的时候因为自己受到的试探而感到筋疲力尽。当客席讲员宣布他讲道的题目──「胜过试探的十五个原则」──时,我的心立即往下沉。他讲的道可能是我当时的需要,但由于我太疲倦了,不能专心聆听那些原则。
那天晚上我回到家后,打开诗篇,读到诗人的经历,发现他们也经历过我所面对的事情,让我立即重得力量,我的灵得到了复苏。诗篇确实是圣经其中一本最重要和宝贵的书卷,所以要学习当你被生命的浪潮冲击的时候,马上阅读诗篇,这样你就会好像无数其他人一样,发现诗篇在针对你的情况说话,因为写诗篇的人也曾有过与你一样的经历。
「诗篇以经验来教导我们」
进深研究
彼后一15-21;弗一17-19;林后四6
1神的话好像甚么?
2保罗为以弗所人祈求甚么?
祈祷
天父,我对您的感激不是言语所能形容,因为您的说话触动我,胜过世间的一切。求您帮助我懂得好好运用这不会失落的宝库。奉耶稣的名祈求,阿们。
The Power of a New Perspective
A recital of experiences

Bible reading:
1 Corinthians 10:1-13
1 For I do not want you to be ignorant of the fact, brothers and sisters, that our ancestors were all under the cloud and that they all passed through the sea.
2 They were all baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea.
3 They all ate the same spiritual food
4 and drank the same spiritual drink; for they drank from the spiritual rock that accompanied them, and that rock was Christ.
5 Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them; their bodies were scattered in the wilderness.
6 Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did.
7 Do not be idolaters, as some of them were; as it is written: "The people sat down to eat and drink and got up to indulge in revelry."[a]
8 We should not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day twenty-three thousand of them died.
9 We should not test Christ,[b] as some of them did—and were killed by snakes.
10 And do not grumble, as some of them did—and were killed by the destroying angel.
11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come.
12 So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don't fall!
13 No temptation[c] has overtaken you except what is common to mankind. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted[d] beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted,[e] he will also provide a way out so that you can endure it.
Message
Having spent the past days identifying the nature of the problem which almost caused the psalmist to give up, we pause today to focus on another great value of the book of Psalms - the fact that it presents its teaching in the form of a recital of experiences. We have exactly the same kind of teaching in the New Testament, but there it is presented in a more directive fashion.
Sometimes our hearts grow weary under the stresses of life and we are not open to receiving direct instruction from anyone. I remember when I was a young Christian going to church one evening feeling tired and worn down by the strong temptations I was experiencing. As the visiting preacher announced the title of his sermon - "Fifteen Principles for Overcoming Temptation" - I felt my heart sink within me. His sermon might have been what I needed but at that moment I was too weary to concentrate on principles.
When I got home that evening I turned to the book of Psalms, and as I read the experiences of some of those men and found that they too had been through what I was going through, my strength returned and my spirit revived. This is why the book of Psalms is one of the most important and valuable books of the Bible. Learn to turn to it whenever you feel battered and beaten by the waves of life. You will find, as millions have found before you, that it speaks to your condition because the men who wrote it have been in your condition.
"The psalms teach by experience"
Prayer
O Father, I am grateful to You beyond words for giving me that part of Your Word that reaches me when perhaps nothing else might reach me. Help me to make good use of it and avail myself of its unfailing resources. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
2 Peter 1:15-21
Ephesians 1:17-19
2 Corinthians 4:6
1. What is God's Word like?
2. What did Paul pray for the Ephesians?
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