昨天我们结束时提出了一个劝告：「如果你不能忍受那热力，就更要留在厨房里，学习以神的力量来应付它。」今天的诗篇在开始时命令我们聆听：「我的民哪，你们要留心听我的训诲。」这篇诗篇开头的几节，让我们看到诗人亚萨正在回想犹太人在旷野飘流四十年期间对神不顺服的叛逆，但是接着的一节却显得有些奇怪：「以法莲的子孙带着兵器，拿着弓，临阵之日转身退后」（第9节）。

这些以法莲人有战争所需的一切装备，但在作战那天，也就是冲突的第一天，他们却「转身退后」。虽然有好的装备，但在面临考验的一刻他们却被恐惧所胜过。无疑的当他们整装出去作战时一定排列得很好，表面看来也相当的英勇，但是当真正面对敌人的时候，他们所使用的唯一武器却是全体军人狼狈地临阵退缩所扬起的尘土。

我听过一位讲员称这些以法莲人为「天生的懦夫」。这是多么严重的指控！你知道，「以法莲人」今天仍然存在于我们各自的教会里。他们每个主日看起来都很神气，手里拿着诗歌集和圣经，但当试探的热光照射他们的时候就马上逃跑。他们向试探投降，因为他们从未学会如何降服于神。正如我以前说过，当我们完全向神降服的时候，就没有对任何其他东西降服的必要。

「向神降服，我们就能够站稳阵脚」

进深研究
但一1-21；罗六13；弗六13

1. 但以理怎样抗拒妥协的试探？
2. 抵挡试探有甚么结果？

祈祷
主耶稣，求您帮助我省察自己，察看我究竟有没有向您降服。我明白要是我不俯伏在您脚前，我就会俯伏在其他事物和环境之前。求您让我看到我是俯伏在谁的脚前。奉耶稣宝贵的圣名祈求，阿们。

The Corn of Wheat Afraid to Die

Day 294

"The original quitters"

"They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them." (v.11)

Bible reading:
Psalm 78:1-11

1 My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old—

3 things we have heard and known, things our ancestors have told us.

4 We will not hide them from their descendants; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.

5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our ancestors to teach their children,

6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children.

7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.

8 They would not be like their ancestors—a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.

9 The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle;

10 they did not keep God's covenant and refused to live by his law.

11 They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.

Message

We ended yesterday with the advice: "If you can't stand the heat, stay in the kitchen - and in God's strength, learn to handle it." The psalm before us today begins by commanding us to listen: "O my people, hear my teaching" You have only to read a few verses of this psalm to see that the psalmist Asaph is recalling the disobedience which characterised the Jews during their forty years' wandering in the wilderness. Then a strange verse appears: "The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows, turned back on the day of battle" (v.9).

These Ephraimites were equipped with all they needed for warfare, but on the day of the battle - that is, the first day of the fray - they "turned back". Although well armed, in the moment of testing they were overcome by fear. Doubtless they paraded well and looked fine as they marched out to battle, but when they came face to face with the enemy, the only weapon they used was a cloud of dust as they retreated en masse - and in a hurry.

A preacher I once heard referred to the Ephraimites in this verse as "the original quitters". What an indictment. The Ephraimites live on, you know; they are to be found in the rank and file of many a modern-day congregation. They look fine in church on Sunday mornings with a hymn book and a Bible in their hands, but let the hot rays of temptation beat upon them - and they run. They surrender to temptation because they have never learned how to surrender to God. As I've said before - when we surrender to God, then we need not surrender to anything else.

"Surrendered to God we can stand and fight"

Prayer
Lord Jesus, help me clarify to myself whether I am surrendered or not. For I see that if I do not fall at Your feet, then I fall at the feet of things and circumstances. Show me at whose feet I am lying. For Your own Name's sake. Amen.

Further study
Daniel 1:1-21
Romans 6:13
Ephesians 6:13

1.How did Daniel resist the temptation to compromise?
2. What are the results of resisting temptation?

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