5月19日 重整旗鼓

誰能使我們與基督的愛隔絕呢？（羅八35）

神並不叫人與患難絕緣；他說：“在患難中，我要與他同在。”人生不管遭受怎樣重大苦難的打擊，一概都不能叫人與神的關係隔絕。我們“在這一切事上已經得勝有餘了”，保羅在此並不是說些虛幻的事，而是指一些極其真實的事；他說我們在這些事上所以是優勝者，不是靠一己的機智，一己的勇氣，也不是靠任何其他事物，乃是根據一件事實；我們與神在基督耶穌裡的關係，而這關係不是任何事物可以影響的。不管對也好錯也好，我們的景況就是這樣，環境際遇就是這樣。那些環境一帆風順的基督徒，我為他們感到可惜。

“難道是患難嗎……？”患難絕不是什麼賞心樂事；它所包羅的範圍極大，舉凡困倦、屈辱、勞累等都接踵而至，但都不能叫我們與神的愛隔絕。千萬別讓憂慮和患難阻礙你認識神愛你這事實。

“是困苦嗎……？”當事事不如意，人說神的愛只是謊言，而正義也不存在，神的愛仍然靠得住嗎？“是饑餓嗎……？”我們餓著肚子的時候，是否仍然相信神的愛，而且得勝有餘呢？除非耶穌基督是個騙子，把保羅蒙在鼓裡；否則，必定有極不尋常發生在這個人身上，叫他在萬事不如意之中，仍然抓緊神的愛。在這一切事情上，邏輯已經失去它的功用。只有一件事可作解釋－－就是神在耶穌基督裡的愛。讓我重整旗鼓，再接再厲吧！

祈禱◆主啊，為著我身處的地方，我讚美你；可是在我裡面正開始猜想－－這是否你為我預備的地方？求你牢牢地拖帶我實行你的旨意。我可能只是煩躁不安，求你使我安靜和得力，以致我不會因疑惑而得罪你。

May 19 “Out Of The Wreck I Rise”

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?” Romans 8:35

God does not keep a man immune from trouble; He says – “I will be with him in trouble.” It does not matter what actual troubles in the most extreme form get hold of a man's life, not one of them can separate him from his relationship to God. We are “more than conquerors in all these things.” Paul is not talking of imaginary things, but of things that are desperately actual; and he says we are super-victors in the midst of them, not by our ingenuity, or by our courage, or by anything other than the fact that not one of them affects our relationship to God in Jesus Christ. Rightly or wrongly, we are where we are, exactly in the condition we are in. I am sorry for the Christian who has not something in his circumstances he wishes was not there.

“Shall tribulation . . . ?” Tribulation is never a noble thing; but let tribulation be what it may – exhausting, galling, fatiguing, it is not able to separate us from the love of God. Never let cares or tribulations separate you from the fact that God loves you.

“Shall anguish . . . ?” – can God's love hold when everything says that His love is a lie, and that there is no such thing as justice?

“Shall famine . . . ?” – can we not only believe in the love of God but be more than conquerors, even while we are being starved?

Either Jesus Christ is a deceiver and Paul is deluded, or some extraordinary thing happens to a man who holds on to the love of God when the odds are all against God's character. Logic is silenced in the face of every one of these things. Only one thing can account for it – the love of God in Christ Jesus. “Out of the wreck I rise” every time.