今天我们要继续来思考前面探讨过的问题，那就是：我们需要按神的本性来看神，而不是按我们的喜好。在一次电台访问中，主持人问我：「在你担任牧者和心理辅导师的这么多年以来，你在基督徒生命中看到的最大问题是甚么？是甚么原因导致这个问题的产生？」我毫不犹疑地回答：「问题就是，我们会因为神没有按照我们的意思做某些事情，或者是没有供应我们的祈求，而对神感到失望。原因是我们对神和神的处事方式存在相当错误的理解。」

很多基督徒经常生活在压抑的失望和愤怒底下，因为他们在某些方面没有看到神垂听他们所想要得到的祈求。我曾经听过有人说：「我祈求神给我忍耐，但祂反倒容许压力增加。」或者是：「我要求神除去我对太太和儿女的愤怒，但祂并没有回应我的祷告。」有人说时间是了不起的医生，它能让很多基督徒从他们对神的负面感受里恢复过来。实际上他们往往没有得到真正的医治，只不过是将那些情绪掩盖起来，当危机出现而神没有如他们所预期的行动时，那些被掩盖的感受便再浮现出来，问题又重新开始。

我们越快学会按神的本性接受神，而不是以我们自己的喜好来塑造神的形象，就能够越快地从混乱的路径走上信心的坦途。我可以告诉你，这是极其重要的事情。

「要学会按神自己的本性接受神」

进深研究
诗二十二1-5；罗五5

1. 大卫怎么样形容他的列祖？
2. 结果如何？

祈祷
天父，当您好像没有以我所希望的方式行动，或做我想您为我做的事情时，我心里满是挣扎。求您帮助我更认识您，好让我的期望是建立在真理、而不是在自己的意愿上。奉主耶稣的名祈求。阿们。

The Vision of God

Day 22

Our biggest single problem

"Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father." (v.9)

Bible reading:
John 14:1-14

1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God[a]; believe also in me.

2 My Father's house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?

3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.

4 You know the way to the place where I am going." Jesus the Way to the Father

5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don't know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

7 If you really know me, you will know[b] my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him."

8 Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us."

9 Jesus answered: "Don't you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, 'Show us the Father'?

10 Don't you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you I do not speak on my own authority. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work.

11 Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the works themselves.

12 Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

13 And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Father may be glorified in the Son.

14 You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.

Message

We continue with the thought that we have to see God as He is, not as we would like Him to be. In a radio interview I was asked this question: "Over the years in which you have been a minister and counsellor, what has been the biggest single problem you have come across in the lives of fellow Christians? And what is the cause of that biggest single problem?" Unhesitatingly I replied: "Disappointment with God because of something He did not do, or something He did not provide. The cause - a wrong understanding of God and His ways."

Multitudes of Christians go through life with suppressed disappointment and anger because at some point in their experience God did not come through for them in the way they thought He should. I have heard people say: "I asked God to give me patience and instead He allowed the pressures to increase." "I asked God to take away my anger toward my wife and children, but He failed to answer my prayer." Time, it is said, is a wonderful healer, and many Christians recover from these negative feelings about God. But so often there is no real healing, just a covering over of the emotions. Then when some crisis hits and God does not come up to expectations the submerged feelings break the surface and the problem begins all over again.

The sooner we learn to accept God as He is, and do not imagine Him as we would like Him to be, the sooner we will move from the path of confusion to confidence. I tell you, this is a matter of supreme importance.

"Learning to accept God as He is"

Prayer
O Father, I confess that I struggle when You don't seem to move in the way I want You to or do the things I want You to do. Help me know You better so that my expectations are based on truth, not on wishful thinking In Jesus' Name. Amen.

Further study
Psalm 22:1-5
Romans 5:5

1. What did David say about his fathers?
2. What was the result?

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