12月31日 昨日

以色列的 神必作你們的後盾。（賽五十二12）

脫離昨天的保證。“神需要用過去的事。”年終的時候，我們會期待地指望神帶領將來，但回想過去，也會帶來焦慮。今天對神恩典的享受，很容易受過去的罪與錯失影響。可是神是管理昨天的神，他容許過去的回憶存留，為的是將來的屬靈培育。神有時用過去提醒我們，免得我們停在現今膚淺的滿足裡。

昨天的保證。“因為耶和華必在你們前頭行。”這是滿有恩典的啟示，神在我們失敗的地方守衛，留意不讓我們重蹈覆轍。若他不作後盾，我們勢必再犯。神的手伸到昨天去，為我們的良心清除存貨。

今天的保證。“你們出來必不至急忙。”在進入新一年之際，讓我們不要急躁魯莽、興奮忘舊，也不要輕率衝動，只要從忍耐中得力，知道以色列的神必在前頭行。昨天無可挽回，錯過的機會永難再得，但神可以把這摧毀性的焦慮，變成建設性的心思，作將來之用。讓過去睡吧，但要睡在主耶穌的懷裡。

把一去不復返的過去放在他手中，然後與他一同踏進必要來到的將來。

祈禱◆主耶穌啊，“父一切的豐盛，都在你裡面居住”；“萬物都交在你的手裡”；“天上地下所有的權柄都賜給你了”－－噢，我天上的父神，願你按照你在基督耶穌榮耀裡的豐盛，滿足我一切的需要。

December 31 Yesterday

“The God of Israel will be your rereward.” Isaiah 52:12

Security from Yesterday. “God requireth that which is past.” At the end of the year we turn with eagerness to all that God has for the future, and yet anxiety is apt to arise from remembering the yesterdays. Our present enjoyment of God's grace is apt to be checked by the memory of yesterday's sins and blunders. But God is the God of our yesterdays, and He allows the memory of them in order to turn the past into a ministry of spiritual culture for the future. God reminds us of the past lest we get into a shallow security in the present.

Security for Tomorrow. “For the Lord will go before you.” This is a gracious revelation, that God will garrison where we have failed to. He will watch lest things trip us up again into like failure, as they assuredly would do if He were not our rereward. God's hand reaches back to the past and makes a clearing-house for conscience.

Security for Today. “For ye shall not go out with haste.” As we go forth into the coming year, let it not be in the haste of impetuous, unremembering delight, nor with the flight of impulsive thoughtlessness, but with the patient power of knowing that the God of Israel will go before us. Our yesterdays present irreparable things to us; it is true that we have lost opportunities which will never return, but God can transform this destructive anxiety into a constructive thoughtfulness for the future. Let the past sleep, but let it sleep on the bosom of Christ.

Leave the Irreparable Past in His hands, and step out into the Irresistible Future with Him.