12月26日 属灵跌倒者的祷告
12月26日，周五
属灵跌倒者的祷告
“因为我知道我的过犯，我的罪常在我面前。”（诗篇51:3）
诗篇51篇可以说是一位“属灵跌倒者的祷告”。在这首诗中，我清楚地看到一个人在被圣灵责备，在罪中自责时，必然会经历的几个阶段。
第一步是：他开始认清并承认自己确实犯了罪。听听大卫怎么说：“因为我知道我的过犯，我的罪常在我面前。”当一个人真正意识到自己的罪并为此扎心时，首先的表现就是：他不再逃避，而是坦诚地直面自己的罪，正视自己所做的一切。大卫与拔示巴的整个故事清楚地告诉我们：这正是大卫之前一直不肯去做的的。
这难道不是一件近乎不可思议的事吗？一个人竟能做出大卫所做的那些恶事，却仍然不愿真正面对它们。难道大卫不知道自己在作恶吗？他肯定知道，但他还是做了！他只是拒绝正视犯罪的事实，并且持续地逃避面对真相。即便在做了这些可怕的事之后，若不是神差遣先知拿单去见他，用一个比喻让他不得不直面自己的罪，大卫恐怕仍然会执迷不悟。当拿单换了一种形式揭露同样的罪行时，大卫终于看清了真相，并在神面前彻底谦卑，俯伏在尘土之中。这就是他写下诗篇第51篇的心路历程。这永远是悔改的第一步——我们必须停下来思想；必须驻足片刻，正视真实的自我，正视我们的生活方式，以及我们在过去和现在所做的一切。
我知道这非常刺耳，人们通常不喜欢这样直白的福音信息。然而，你若想认识神的救恩，就必须悔改；而悔改的第一步就是为罪自责。要产生这种自责，第一件事就是停下脚步，审视你自己。
默想主题：
悔改的第一步就是“为罪自责”。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：代下31章，启17章
个人灵修：亚13:2-9，约16章
December 26, Friday
A PRAYER OF A BACKSLIDER
For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me. (PSALM 51:3)
The fifty-first Psalm is what you might call, if you like, “a prayer of a backslider.” Here we are shown the steps through which a man inevitably passes when he becomes convinced and convicted of his sin.
The first is this: He comes to a knowledge of and an acknowledgment of the fact that he has sinned. Listen to David: “For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.” The first thing that happens to a man when he becomes convinced and convicted of sin is that he faces his sin and really looks at what he has done in an honest manner. This whole story [of David and Bathsheba] tells us that was exactly what David had previously not done.
Is there not something almost incredible about this, that a man could do the things that David did and yet really not face them? Surely David must have felt he was doing wrong; yet he did it! But he did not face the fact of wrongdoing, and he went on refusing to face it. And having done these terrible things, David would still not have faced them were it not that God sent the prophet Nathan to him and made him face them by giving him details of the same thing as had happened but in a different form. Thus David saw the truth, and he was humbled to the dust. That is how he came to write this fifty-first Psalm. This is always the first step. We must stop and think; we must pause for a moment and face ourselves and face the life we have lived and what we have done and what we are doing.
Now I know this is very unpleasant, and people dislike a gospel that says a thing like that. But if you want to know God’s salvation, you have to repent; and the first step is conviction of sin, and the first way to become convicted of sin is to stop and look at yourself.
A Thought to Ponder: The first step is conviction of sin.