神的异象
一丝盼望
经文
约伯记十四1-12
1人为妇人所生,日子短少,多有患难;
2出来如花,又被割下,飞去如影,不能存留。
3这样的人你岂睁眼看他吗?又叫我来受审吗?
4谁能使洁净之物出于污秽之中呢?无论谁也不能!
5人的日子既然限定,他的月数在你那里,你也派定他的界限,使他不能越过,
6便求你转眼不看他,使他得歇息,直等他像雇工人完毕他的日子。
7树若被砍下,还可指望发芽,嫩枝生长不息;
8其根虽然衰老在地里,干也死在土中,
9及至得了水气,还要发芽,又长枝条,像新栽的树一样。
10但人死亡而消灭;他气绝,竟在何处呢?
11海中的水绝尽,江河消散干涸。
12人也是如此,躺下不再起来,等到天没有了,仍不得复醒,也不得从睡中唤醒。
信息分享
我们今天来到以赛亚书第六章这段伟大经文的结束,一起看看最后这句话:「我就说:『主啊,这到几时为止呢?』……『直到城邑荒凉,无人居住,房屋空闲无人,地土极其荒凉。并且耶和华将人迁到远方,在这境内撇下的地土很多。境内剩下的人若还有十分之一,也必被吞灭;像栗树、橡树虽被砍伐,树墩子却仍存留,这圣洁的种类在国中也是如此』」(赛六11-13)。
以赛亚明显要看到以色列变成荒地。他前面有漫长和艰难的工作要做。他要向基本上不想听他说话的人说预言。不过,我们在这一章最后一句话看到一丝盼望。当代圣经(The Living Bible)表达得最有力:「不过,十分一──余民──会存活;虽然以色列被一再入侵和破坏,但它会好像一棵被砍下的树,树墩子会存留,再次生长。」
百姓甚么时候会聆听?只有在他们走投无路,除了转向神外再没有别的出路时。当国土被入侵的军队破坏,百姓被掳,这情况便会出现。余民是指那些在被掳后留在故土,或者那些从巴比伦回来重建耶路撒冷的人。
啊,为甚么我们不听从神?我们会好像以色列那样,追求自己的路,只有在走投无路时才回到神身边吗?神今天是否在向你讲述这事?如果是的话,好好想一想祂在告诉你甚么,并趁还有时间赶紧顺服神的美意。
「趁还有时间,赶紧顺服神的美意」
进深研究
罗九22-十1,十一1-36
1. 以色列的不信带来甚么结果?
2. 保罗怎样为以色列人祈祷?
祈祷
天父,我甚么时候才理解您的道路是唯一确定的道路。当我选择自己而不是您的路时,求您赦免我,毁灭我心里一切自我的欲望。奉耶稣的名祈求,阿们。
The Vision of God
One ray of hope
Bible reading:
Job 14:1-12
1 "Mortals, born of woman, are of few days and full of trouble.
2 They spring up like flowers and wither away; like fleeting shadows, they do not endure.
3 Do you fix your eye on them? Will you bring them[a] before you for judgment?
4 Who can bring what is pure from the impure? No one!
5 A person's days are determined; you have decreed the number of his months and have set limits he cannot exceed.
6 So look away from him and let him alone, till he has put in his time like a hired laborer.
7 "At least there is hope for a tree: If it is cut down, it will sprout again, and its new shoots will not fail.
8 Its roots may grow old in the ground and its stump die in the soil,
9 yet at the scent of water it will bud and put forth shoots like a plant.
10 But a man dies and is laid low; he breathes his last and is no more.
11 As the water of a lake dries up or a riverbed becomes parched and dry,
12 so he lies down and does not rise; till the heavens are no more, people will not awake or be roused from their sleep.
Message
As we draw to the close of the great passage in Isaiah 6 we examine the final words: "Then I said, 'For how long, O Lord?'... 'Until the cities lie ruined and without inhabitant, until the houses are left deserted and field ruined and ravaged, until the Lord has sent everyone far away and the land is utterly forsaken. And though a tenth remains in the land, it will again be laid waste. But as the terebinth and oak leave stumps when they are cut down, so the holy seed will be the stump in the land' " (Isa. 6:11-13).
Clearly Isaiah is going to witness Israel becoming like a wasteland. He has a long hard job ahead of him, prophesying to a people who, in the main, just do not want to hear. There is one ray of hope which we see in the last phrase of the chapter. The Living Bible puts it most effectively: "Yet a tenth - a remnant - will survive; and though Israel is invaded again and again and destroyed, yet Israel will be like a tree cut down, whose stump still lives to grow again."
When would the people listen? Only after they had come to the end and had nowhere to turn but to God. This would happen when the land was destroyed by invading armies and the people taken into captivity. The remnant referred to are those who either remained in the land after the captivity, or those who returned from Babylon to rebuild Jerusalem.
Oh, why don't we listen to God? Will we, like Israel, pursue our own paths and come back to Him only when we have nowhere left to turn? Is God speaking to you about this today? If so, consider what He may be telling you and obey Him while there is time.
"Obey while there is time"
Prayer
O Father, when will I learn that Your way is the only sure way. Forgive me for the times when I prefer my way to Your way, and kill within me all those desires that put self-interest before Your interests. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.
Further study
Romans 9:22-10:1; 11:1-36
1. What has been the result of Israel's unbelief?
2. What was Paul's prayer for the Israelites?
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