9月6日 平安胜过患难
平安胜过患难
他越是感受不到神爱中那份喜乐，就越会为那遮掩喜乐的罪痛切哀伤。
你的平安是否只伴随你走到监牢门前？或只停在病榻之侧？身体康健时，深信自己得救固然容易；但当死亡近在咫尺，你的良心是否会显出可怕的病兆，暴露出你的平安不过是自欺欺人？
我深知患难是试炼的时刻。即便最真诚的基督徒，也可能在某一时期被打退，仿佛连信心的确据也被撒但夺去。有些宝贵的圣徒曾被猛烈试探的洪流冲袭，以致开始怀疑自己过去的平安究竟是出于保惠师圣灵，还是出于那欺骗人的邪灵。然而，这二者之间有着天壤之别。
二者起因不同。真基督徒的灵有时在深重苦难中陷入黑暗，是因为神掩面不顾。但受欺哄之人所受的惊恐，却直接来自有罪的良心；这良心曾被顺境和忙碌麻痹沉睡。当神的手临到这人，唤醒他麻木的良心时，便显明他信仰告白的虚假。诚然，圣徒的良心也可能因他在强烈试探中显出的疏忽或妥协而公正地控告他，但良心绝不能控告他整个属灵历程背后的动机全属虚伪。
二者的伴随表现也不同。即便基督徒在忧伤之中，恩典活泼的作为依然清晰可见。他越是感受不到神爱中那份喜乐，就越会为那遮掩喜乐的罪痛切哀伤。基督越是离开他的视线，他就越紧紧依傍对救主的爱，并以希幔的祷告向祂呼求：“耶和华啊，我呼求你。”他发自肺腑的恳求，在清晨就达到神面前（诗88:13）。
麦琴（麦克谦）读经计划进度
家庭敬拜：撒上31章，林前11章，
个人灵修：结9章，约10章
SEPTEMBER 6, SUNDAY
AFFLICTION OVERCOME BY PEACE
The less joy he has from awareness of God’s love, the more earnestly he will grieve for the sin which clouded that joy.
Does your peace go with you only as far as the prison door? Or the hospital bed? It is easy to be confident of a salvation as long as your health is good; but as soon as death is in sight, does your conscience point out the serious symptom that your peace is a mere pretense?
I know that affliction is a trying time. Even the most sincere Christian may, for a season, be beaten away from his artillery and Satan seem to capture his confidence. Some precious saints have been carried down the stream of violent temptations so far that they question whether their former peace was from the Holy Spirit the Comforter or from the evil spirit the deceiver. Yet there is a vast difference between the two.
They differ in their causes. The darkness which sometimes comes upon the sincere Christian’s spirit in deep distress comes from the withdrawing of God’s countenance of light. But the horror of the deceived man’s torment proceeds directly from a guilty conscience which prosperity and preoccupation have lulled to sleep. As God’s hand upon this man awakens his numb conscience, it reveals the falseness of his profession of faith. It is true that the saint’s conscience may justly accuse him of carelessness or compromise through strong temptation, but it cannot accuse him of a hypocritical motive behind his whole spiritual walk.
They differ in the things which accompany them. Lively workings of grace are visible even as the Christian sorrows. The less joy he has from awareness of God’s love, the more earnestly he will grieve for the sin which clouded that joy. The farther Christ is gone out of his sight, the more he clings to his love for the Savior and cries after Him with the prayer of Heman: “Unto thee have I cried, O Lord”; his heartfelt supplication rises to God early in the morning hours (Psalm 88:13).