2月15日 面对逆境
面对逆境
“因为主所爱的，祂必管教”；在每一次患难的阵痛背后，都孕育着一个即将诞生的赐福。
想使你偏离通往天上的坚定航线，撒但还会尝试另一种方式，就是利用你无法理解的处境。牠借此使你质疑神的爱，并争夺你的灵魂。起初（在神的许可下），撒但劫掠了约伯在地上的家产，接着便着手攻击他的属灵生命。牠动用了当时所有处境和可用之人：牠让约伯的妻子埋怨神，让约伯的朋友定约伯为有罪。撒但让除了约伯以外的所有人都相信：受苦的境遇与恩典的状态，绝不能同住在一个屋檐下。
当你发现自己的灵魂在患难的浓雾中漂流不定时，这里有一个及时的提醒：既不要愚昧地将仇敌的作祟归咎于神，也不要自暴自弃地把自己划归为属于仇敌的人。神能在最狂暴的飓风中画出一条笔直的航线。祂在使用恶的器皿时依然公义，在施行严厉的护理时依然慈爱。不要对今生境况的变化反应过度，因为基督早已告诉我们：在抵达天上的彼岸之前，航程难免颠簸。
你的眼光应当与未重生的人迥然不同。他们像无知的孩子，以为凡给他们甜头的人就是爱他们的，却不知道亨通也可能成为一种咒诅，让人在虚假的安全感中沉睡得更深。记得雅亿是如何对待西西拉的（士5:25-26）：“西西拉求水，雅亿给他奶，用宝贵的盘子给他奶油”，这为的是更稳妥地把他钉死在地上——据说奶有催人入睡的作用。然而，患难中的基督徒却拥有一把解读神护理的钥匙：圣灵借着圣言，教你读懂神安排的速记之法：“因为主所爱的，祂必管教”；在每一次患难的阵痛背后，都孕育着一个即将诞生的赐福。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：创48章，路1:39-80，
个人灵修：伯14章，林前2章
FEBRUARY 15, SUNDAY
DEALING WITH ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCE
Every son whom He loves, He corrects. Behind the travail of every affliction is a blessing waiting to be born.
Satan will try to draw you off your steadfast course to heaven in still another way—by the presence of circumstances you cannot understand. With them Satan argues against God’s love, and for your soul. First (by God’s permission) he pillaged Job’s earthly possessions, and then fell to work on his spiritual estate. He used every circumstance and everybody at his disposal. He had Job’s wife blame God; he had Job’s friends condemn the man himself. Satan convinced them all—except Job—that an afflicted condition and a state of grace could not live together in the same house.
Here is a timely warning when you find your soul adrift in a heavy fog of tribulation: Neither accuse God foolishly of your enemy’s mischief, nor charge yourself with belonging to the enemy. God can chart a straight course in the worst storm. He can be righteous when He uses wicked instruments, and gracious when He dispenses harsh providences. Do not overreact to changes in your temporal estate. Christ told us to expect some rough sailing before we reach heaven’s shore.
Your perspective should be very different from that of the unregenerate. Like naive children, they think everyone loves them who gives them plums. They do not realize that prosperity can be a curse to bind them in a deeper sleep of false security. Remember how Jael served Sisera (Judges 5:25–26). She gave him milk though he asked for water, that she might more surely nail him to the ground—milk having the property, it is said, to incline to sleep. But the Christian in an afflicted state has a key to decipher God’s providence. The Spirit, through the Word, teaches you to read the shorthand of His dispensations: Every son whom He loves, He corrects. Behind the travail of every affliction is a blessing waiting to be born.