2月18日 撒但在咒诅之下
撒但在咒诅之下
你找不到任何一个忠心的仆人，在被这个仇敌筛过、簸过之后，最终不是带着荣耀的得胜而出的。
撒但纵使有千般的狡诈与诡计，也永远不能击败一个用真实恩典装备起来的灵魂，这场争战也绝不会以僵局收场。去查考圣经吧，你找不到任何一个忠心的仆人，在被这个仇敌筛过、簸过之后，最终不是带着荣耀的得胜而出的；大卫、约伯、彼得和保罗就是见证，在圣经记载中他们都曾被逼到最艰难的境地。为了免得有人将得胜归功于他们自身的能力，这些得胜的荣耀唯独归于神，因为在神里面，最软弱的与最强壮的一样刚强。有两个原因，使那看似寡不敌众、势单力薄的基督徒依然不可征服（林后12:9；雅5:11）。
那落在撒但身上的咒诅，是来自神的咒诅；神的咒诅所到之处，必带来毁灭。迦南人及周围各国虽以骁勇善战闻名，却成了以色列人轻易掳获的猎物。这是为什么呢？因为他们是受咒诅的民族。埃及人曾极其精明，他们说：“来吧，我们不如用巧计待他们。”然而神的咒诅像刺一样扎进埃及的心脏，最终导致了这个民族的败亡。事实上，当以色列人——这些约中的百姓——因犯罪而成为神咒诅的对象时，他们也会像尘土一样被亚述人践踏在脚下。
从创世记3:14-15起，就有一个不可撤销的咒诅粘附在撒但身上：“耶和华神对蛇说：你既做了这事，就必受咒诅……”而且，正如这咒诅永远与撒但为敌，它也永远为圣徒的益处而效力。
其中一个表现，就是这个咒诅将撒但压制在圣徒脚下：“你必用肚子行走”（14节）。撒但这种卑微伏地的状态，向信徒保证：魔鬼永不能将牠的头（即他的诡诈计谋）抬得高过圣徒的脚跟。牠或许能让你行路艰难（甚至让你“跛脚”），却绝不能夺走你的生命。牠给你的那点“伤”，必会换来牠自己的报应——牠的头将被打碎，牠和牠的一切事业都将被彻底毁灭。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：出1章，路4章，
个人灵修：伯18章，林前5章
FEBRUARY 18, WENDESDAY
SATAN IS UNDER A CURSE
You will not find a faithful servant sifted and winnowed by this enemy, who did not come off with an honorable victory.
Satan, with all his wit and wiles, will never defeat a soul armed with true grace, nor will the contest ever end in a stalemate. Look into the Word. You will not find a faithful servant sifted and winnowed by this enemy, who did not come off with an honorable victory. Witness David, Job, Peter, and Paul, who were the hardest put to it of any upon record. And lest some should attribute their victory to their own inherent strength, the glory of the victories is attributable to God alone, in whom the weak are as strong as the strongest. There are two reasons why the Christian who seems to be so overmatched is yet so unconquerable (2 Corinthians 12:9; James 5:11).
The curse that lies upon Satan is God’s curse. God’s curse blasts wherever it comes. The Canaanite, along with their neighboring nations, were easy prey for Israel, though they were famous for war. Why? Because they were cursed nations. The Egyptians were a shrewd people. “Let us deal wisely,” they said. Yet God’s curse lay like a thorn at Egypt’s heart, and was finally her ruin. In fact, when the Israelites, themselves children of the covenant, sinned and became the object of God’s curse, they were trampled like dirt under the Assyrian’s feet.
An irrevocable curse clings to Satan from Genesis 3:14–15: “And the Lord God said unto the serpent, Because thou hast done this, thou art cursed …” And as the curse works eternally against Satan, so it operates eternally in favor of the saints.
For one thing, it prostrates Satan under their feet: “Upon thy belly shalt thou go” (v. 14). This prostrate condition of Satan assures believers that the devil can never lift his head—his wily schemes—higher than the saints’ heels. He may make you limp, but he cannot take your life. And the bruise which he gives you will be rewarded with the breaking of his own head—the utter ruin of him and his cause.