3月22日 神站在我们这一边
神站在我们这一边
撒但的能力不仅是派生的、受限的，牠还服从于神那至高统管的权能，并为神所用。
有时候，你可能会觉得神似乎撇下了你，让你独自争战。正是在这种时刻，你的信心必须完成最艰巨的任务。你要紧紧持守这一确信：神正注视着撒但的一举一动，绝不会让牠取得最后的胜利。只要神许可，撒但的确可以夺走基督徒许多平安与喜乐；但牠始终是在神的命令之下活动的。当神说“止步”时，牠就必须像桌旁的一条狗一样呆住，而圣徒则在神所赐的安慰中得享筵席。而撒但连一小块碎屑也不敢抢，因为主人的眼目始终盯着牠。当你忘记神的手一直高举在撒但之上，且祂慈爱的眼目始终看顾着你时，你就失去了许多安慰。
撒但的能力不仅是派生的、受限的，牠还服从于神那至高统管的权能，并为神所用。无论牠设计怎样的恶谋，神都预定了这些事最终为圣徒效力，使他们得益处。论到魔鬼，正像论到那骄傲的亚述王一样：“他却不是这样的意思，他心也不这样打算”（赛10:7），因为魔鬼的心意始终倾向于毁灭万人。
但神的意思却完全不同，历世历代许多智慧的圣徒都从经历中学到了这一点。当有人告诉马丁·路德，纽伦堡会议做出了不利于更正教信徒的裁决时，路德只是平静地说：“地上的议案是那样定的，天上的定旨却另有安排。”因此，令圣徒得安慰的是：神向他们所怀的是平安与保守的意念；而撒但所怀的，却是残害与灭亡。谁会怀疑神的意念跑得比魔鬼更快、更远呢？
你要知道，当撒但在逼迫时，神却在炼净（参但11:35）。你生命恩典中的大多数污点，往往是在你安享平顺时沾染上的；而这些恩典，唯有在经历撒但的“洗刷”后，才最能恢复洁白。撒但撒下灰心、忧伤甚至绝望，牠想要吞灭圣徒，就像大鱼吞下约拿一样；但神却使用这些患难来打磨、淬炼你的信心，使它到最后比以往任何时候都更加精纯、更加宝贵。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：出33章，约12章，
个人灵修：箴9章，弗2章
MARCH 22, SUNDAY
GOD STANDS BY OUR SIDE
Not only is Satan’s power derived and limited, it is also subservient to the overruling power of God.
There may be times when you feel that God has left you to fight alone. That is when your faith must do its hardest work. Hold fast to the assurance that God is watching every move of Satan and will not let him have the final victory. He can, when God allows it, rob the Christian of much of his peace and joy, but he is always under command. When God says “Stay!” he must stand like a dog by the table while the saints feast on God’s comfort. He does not dare to snatch even a tidbit, for the Master’s eye is always on him. You lose much comfort when you forget that God’s hand is always raised above Satan, and His loving eye is always on you.
Not only is Satan’s power derived and limited, it is also subservient to the overruling power of God. Whatever mischief he devises is appointed by God for the ultimate service and benefit of the saints. It is as true of the devil as of the proud Assyrian, that “… he intendeth not so, neither doth his heart think so” (Isaiah 10:7), for the devil’s heart is always bent toward destroying all men.
But God’s intention is otherwise, as many wise saints have learned through the ages. When told what had passed at the Diet of Nuremberg against the Protestants, Luther simply said, “It was decreed one way there, but otherwise in heaven.” So for the saints’ comfort, the thoughts God speeds to them are of peace and preservation, whereas Satan’s are of ruin and destruction. Who will doubt that God’s thoughts can outrun the devil’s?
Know that while Satan is persecuting, God is purging (Daniel 11:35). Most of the stains on your graces get there while you feast on peace and prosperity, and they never recover their whiteness as well as when they have come from under Satan’s scouring. He sends discouragement, or grief, or despair to swallow up the saint (as the whale swallowed Jonah). But God uses the tribulation instead to sand and polish your faith, so that in the end it is finer and more precious than ever.