神的异象
神──足够无缺！
经文
创世记十七1-22
1亚伯兰年九十九岁的时候，耶和华向他显现，对他说：我是全能的神。你当在我面前作完全人，
2我就与你立约，使你的后裔极其繁多。
3亚伯兰俯伏在地；神又对他说：
4我与你立约：你要作多国的父。
5从此以后，你的名不再叫亚伯兰，要叫亚伯拉罕，因为我已立你作多国的父。
6我必使你的后裔极其繁多；国度从你而立，君王从你而出。
7我要与你并你世世代代的后裔坚立我的约，作永远的约，是要作你和你后裔的神。
8我要将你现在寄居的地，就是迦南全地，赐给你和你的后裔永远为业，我也必作他们的神。
9神又对亚伯拉罕说：你和你的后裔必世世代代遵守我的约。
10你们所有的男子都要受割礼；这就是我与你并你的后裔所立的约，是你们所当遵守的。
11你们都要受割礼（原文作割阳皮；14，23，24，25节同）；这是我与你们立约的证据。
12你们世世代代的男子，无论是家里生的，是在你后裔之外用银子从外人买的，生下来第八日，都要受割礼。
13你家里生的和你用银子买的，都必须受割礼。这样，我的约就立在你们肉体上作永远的约。
14但不受割礼的男子必从民中剪除，因他背了我的约。
15神又对亚伯拉罕说：你的妻子撒莱不可再叫撒莱，他的名要叫撒拉。
16我必赐福给他，也要使你从他得一个儿子。我要赐福给他，他也要作多国之母；必有百姓的君王从他而出。
17亚伯拉罕就俯伏在地喜笑，心里说：一百岁的人还能得孩子吗？撒拉已经九十岁了，还能生养吗？
18亚伯拉罕对神说：但愿以实玛利活在你面前。
19神说：不然，你妻子撒拉要给你生一个儿子，你要给他起名叫以撒。我要与他坚定所立的约，作他后裔永远的约。
20至于以实玛利，我也应允你：我必赐福给他，使他昌盛，极其繁多。他必生十二个族长；我也要使他成为大国。
21到明年这时节，撒拉必给你生以撒，我要与他坚定所立的约。
22神和亚伯拉罕说完了话，就离开他上升去了。
信息分享
过去几天我们看到，「他的衣裳垂下，遮满圣殿」──这句来自以赛亚的异象的话，向我们指出在这超越的地方，没有空间留给其他的人。希伯来语用来称呼神的词语“El Shaddai”的意思是「神──足够无缺！」。我很喜欢这个名字背后的意义──足够。因为它清楚表明一个真理：没有任何情况会让我们感到神不能满足我们的需要。
当然，神不仅仅是足够，祂的丰盛完全超越我们的要求。所以，我们可以非常释放的理解，无论需求再大，神绝对能满足我们，因为神的无限量永远没有缺乏。
世上有很多东西总让我们认为自己所拥有的不够充足，例如：金钱、权力、地位、教育等。一般人都以为只要我们能够得到足够的「东西」，就马上会感到满足。但事实并非如此。真正的问题不是人们没有足够的「东西」，而是那些「东西」本身并不能给人带来足够的感受。事实显明，最终只有一个方法可以令人心感到满足，或者更准确地说，能够让男人和女人都感到足够无缺的，只有神！正如范戴克（Henry Van Dyke）博士说：「世上绝对没有甚么东西是人不能够没有的──除了神。」要记得：我们的神是足够无缺的。只有祂能让我们感到满足；只有祂才能真正满足我们的心灵。祂，只有祂才是足够无缺。
「无论甚么情况，神都不会有缺乏」
进深研究
弗三14-21；林后九8；诗三十六8；约十10
1. 使徒的祷告的核心是甚么？
2. 神应许甚么？
祈祷
天父，求您救我脱离以为其他东西可以取代您的这种意识。正如您的荣耀充满以赛亚那时的圣殿一样，求您的荣耀也充满我──唯独充满我。奉耶稣的名祈求，阿们。
The Vision of God
God - the Enough!
Bible reading:
Genesis 17:1-22
1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty[a]; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
2 Then I will make my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers."
3 Abram fell facedown, and God said to him,
4 "As for me, this is my covenant with you: You will be the father of many nations.
5 No longer will you be called Abram[b]; your name will be Abraham,[c] for I have made you a father of many nations.
6 I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you.
7 I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.
8 The whole land of Canaan, where you now reside as a foreigner, I will give as an everlasting possession to you and your descendants after you; and I will be their God."
9 Then God said to Abraham, "As for you, you must keep my covenant, you and your descendants after you for the generations to come.
10 This is my covenant with you and your descendants after you, the covenant you are to keep: Every male among you shall be circumcised.
11 You are to undergo circumcision, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and you.
12 For the generations to come every male among you who is eight days old must be circumcised, including those born in your household or bought with money from a foreigner—those who are not your offspring.
13 Whether born in your household or bought with your money, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh is to be an everlasting covenant.
14 Any uncircumcised male, who has not been circumcised in the flesh, will be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant."
15 God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai; her name will be Sarah.
16 I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations; kings of peoples will come from her."
17 Abraham fell facedown; he laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?"
18 And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!"
19 Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac.[d] I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him.
20 And as for Ishmael, I have heard you: I will surely bless him; I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation.
21 But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year."
22 When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
Message
We have been seeing that the phrase "and the train of his robe filled the temple" taken from Isaiah's vision suggests to us that there is room for no other in this exalted place. God is all in all. The Hebrew term for God, "El Shaddai", means "God the Enough!" I like the thought that underlies that name - the Enough - because it brings home the truth that there is no situation in which we will ever find ourselves where God will not be enough.
God is much more than enough, of course. His sufficiency so immeasurably surpasses our demands. Nevertheless, it is marvellously comforting to know that however much more than enough God is to meet our needs, He is at least enough; nothing less than that.
There are many things in the world of which we think we do not have enough - money, power, status, education, and so on. And it is generally assumed that if only it were possible to have a sufficiency of "things", satisfaction would immediately result. But that is not so. The real trouble is not that people do not have enough "things", but that "things" in themselves are not enough. The plain fact is that there is ultimately only one way in which the human heart can have enough, or to be more exact, one Being who is enough for men and women, and that is God! As Dr Henry Van Dyke expressed it: "There is absolutely nothing that man cannot do without - except God." Remember - God is Enough. Only He is sufficient for us; only He can truly satisfy our souls. He, and only He is enough.
"God is at least enough for every situation"
Prayer
O Father, save me from thinking that anything can ever be a substitute for You. Just as Your glory filled all the Temple in Isaiah's day, so let Your glory fill me - exclusively. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.
Further study
Ephesians 3:14-21
2 Corinthians 9:8
Psalm 36:8
John 10:10
1. What is the heart of the apostle's prayer?
2. What has God promised?
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