我看見祂騎著驢駒…

馬太福音21:1-11

耶穌和門徒將近耶路撒冷,到了伯法其,在橄欖山那裡, 2 耶穌就打發兩個門徒,對他們說:「你們往對面村子裡去,必看見一匹驢拴在那裡,還有驢駒同在一處。你們解開,牽到我這裡來。 3 若有人對你們說什麼,你們就說:『主要用牠。』那人必立時讓你們牽來。」 4 這事成就,是要應驗先知的話說: 5 「要對錫安的居民說:『看哪,你的王來到你這裡,是溫柔的,又騎著驢,就是騎著驢駒子。』」 6 門徒就照耶穌所吩咐的去行, 7 牽了驢和驢駒來,把自己的衣服搭在上面,耶穌就騎上。

那一天(星期日),耶穌騎著驢駒進入耶路撒冷,群眾夾道歡呼:「和散那!」並鋪上棕櫚枝與衣服迎接祂(馬太福音21:1-11;馬可福音11:1-11;路加福音19:28-44;約翰福音12:12-19)。

我站在人群中,看見祂騎著驢駒緩緩而來。人們揮舞著棕枝迎接祂,掌聲、棕枝、歡呼聲震耳欲聾,彷彿祂是他們期盼已久的王。但在人群熱烈的表象下,我感覺到一絲哀傷。祂知道,人們不了解真正的救贖;他們要的,是一位勝利者,而不是一位受苦的僕人。

這樣的榮耀,祂會如何承受?今日的歡呼,是否也能承擔明日的拒絕?

The King Has Spoken and You Are Restored

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 8:1-15.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 8:1-6 (NIV)
1  Now Elisha had said to the woman whose son he had restored to life, “Go away with your family and stay for a while wherever you can, because the LORD has decreed a famine in the land that will last seven years.”
2  The woman proceeded to do as the man of God said. She and her family went away and stayed in the land of the Philistines seven years.

On verses 1-6:  Elisha the prophet tells the woman whose son he had raised back to life to move away from Israel temporarily because a seven year famine was coming to Israel.  After living away from Israel for 7 years, the woman returns to Israel, but by this time the government has taken over her land.  So the woman goes to the king of Israel in hopes of getting her land back.

Faith Doesn’t Need To Be Blind

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 7:1-20.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 7:1-20 (NIV)
1  Elisha said, “Hear the word of the LORD. This is what the LORD says: About this time tomorrow, a seah of flour will sell for a shekel and two seahs of barley for a shekel at the gate of Samaria.”
2  The officer on whose arm the king was leaning said to the man of God, “Look, even if the LORD should open the floodgates of the heavens, could this happen?” “You will see it with your own eyes,” answered Elisha, “but you will not eat any of it!”

On verses 1-20:  Samaria is in the middle of siege and famine where food resources are increasingly scarce and expensive.  Yet Elisha the prophet predicts that within 24 hours the finest flour and barley will be sold for extremely cheap (v1).  An officer of King Joram does not believe it.  In response to the officer’s unbelief, Elisha states that this officer will see it with his own eyes but will not eat any of it (v2).  Meanwhile, four lepers stand at Samaria’s city gate and reason that they’ll die from starvation if they stay at the city gate or go into the city, so they might as well go to the Aramean camp and surrender, since the worst that could happen to them is that they die there too. 

垃圾時間

馬可福音13:32-37

耶穌說:「但那日子,那時辰,沒有人知道,連天上的使者也不知道,子也不知道,惟有父知道。你們要謹慎,警醒祈禱,因為你們不曉得那日期幾時來到。這事正如一個人離開本家,寄居外邦,把權柄交給僕人,分派各人當做的工,又吩咐看門的警醒。所以,你們要警醒;因為你們不知道家主甚麼時候來,或晚上,或半夜,或雞叫,或早晨;恐怕他忽然來到,看見你們睡著了。我對你們所說的話,也是對眾人說:要警醒!」

垃圾時間(Garbage time)常用於有時間限制的多種體育賽事,通常在一場比賽中,雙方隊伍的得分分數差距太大,已經難以改變勝負結果,這時剩餘的比賽時間就被稱為垃圾時間。在垃圾時間,雙方成員就不大會盡力投入比賽,大家準備搓掉時間而結束比賽。

也許我們會想:我已經信神,可以得永生了,那我剩餘的人生呢?是不是就等於是體育賽事中的垃圾時間?

在一支隊伍吞下11敗後又即將接續吞下敗仗時,教練準備放棄比賽,派出板凳球員上場來消磨垃圾時間;但這位在過去23場比賽只上場不到55分鐘的球員,卻為球隊帶來了最好的成績。我們可以從林書豪的身上得到學習。

Remember Who Your Real Enemy Is

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 6:24-33.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go!

2 Kings 6:24-30 (NIV)
24  Some time later, Ben-Hadad king of Aram mobilized his entire army and marched up and laid siege to Samaria.
25  There was a great famine in the city; the siege lasted so long that a donkey’s head sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a quarter of a cab of seed pods for five shekels.
26  As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, “Help me, my lord the king!”

On verses 24-30:  King Ben-Hadad of Aram has laid seige to Samaria, Israel’s capital city.  Without access to food, Samaria suffers a severe famine.  The Israelites in Samaria are so desperate that in verses 26-29 we read about two Israelite mothers who apparently agreed that they would eat their sons to survive.  Now that one mother’s son has been eaten, the other mother refuses to let her own son suffer the same fate. 

小海螺

詩篇4:6  誰能指示我們甚麼好處?耶和華啊,求祢仰起臉來,光照我們。

詩篇31:16  求祢使祢的臉光照僕人,憑祢的慈愛拯救我。

小兄弟倆人合住在小房間裏,白天沒有陽光,覺得非常陰暗。他們看見外面的陽光很是羨慕,兩人就商量說,我們去把外面的陽光掃一點進來。

於是,兄弟倆拿著掃帚和畚箕,走到外面去掃陽光。掃的時候,畚箕裏好像裝滿了陽光,等到他們把畚箕搬到房間裏的時候,裏面的陽光就不見了。這樣一而再,再而三的掃了許多次,屋內還是一點陽光都沒有。

母親看見很訝異,問說:「你們作甚麼?」他們回答說:「房間裏太黑了,我們要掃一點陽光進來。」母親說:「傻孩子,只要把窗戶打開,陽光自然會進來,何必掃呢?」

打開心門

詩篇4:6  誰能指示我們甚麼好處?耶和華啊,求祢仰起臉來,光照我們。

詩篇31:16  求祢使祢的臉光照僕人,憑祢的慈愛拯救我。

小兄弟倆人合住在小房間裏,白天沒有陽光,覺得非常陰暗。他們看見外面的陽光很是羨慕,兩人就商量說,我們去把外面的陽光掃一點進來。

於是,兄弟倆拿著掃帚和畚箕,走到外面去掃陽光。掃的時候,畚箕裏好像裝滿了陽光,等到他們把畚箕搬到房間裏的時候,裏面的陽光就不見了。這樣一而再,再而三的掃了許多次,屋內還是一點陽光都沒有。

母親看見很訝異,問說:「你們作甚麼?」他們回答說:「房間裏太黑了,我們要掃一點陽光進來。」母親說:「傻孩子,只要把窗戶打開,陽光自然會進來,何必掃呢?」

Don’t Lose Your Edge + The Importance of Vision

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 6:1-23.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 6:1-6 (NIV)
1  The company of the prophets said to Elisha, “Look, the place where we meet with you is too small for us.
2  Let us go to the Jordan, where each of us can get a pole; and let us build a place there for us to live.” And he said, “Go.”
3  Then one of them said, “Won’t you please come with your servants?” “I will,” Elisha replied.
4  And he went with them. They went to the Jordan and began to cut down trees.
5  As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the water. “Oh, my lord,” he cried out, “it was borrowed!”
6  The man of God asked, “Where did it fall?” When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a stick and threw it there, and made the iron float.

On verses 1-6:  The number of prophets Elisha is discipling is growing, so Elisha’s disciples propose that they build a new facility for them to meet near the Jordan River.  They begin to cut down trees in the Jordan.  While one of the young prophets is cutting, his ax head flies off its handle and falls into the water.  The young prophet is distraught because the ax head was not his, but was borrowed. 

Worship Is a Heart Thing

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is 2 Kings 5:13-27.  As usual, I encourage you to open your Bible and read the passage yourself first.  See what you can glean with the Holy Spirit’s help. Then read the GAME sharing below.  Let’s go! 

2 Kings 5:13-14 (NIV) 
13  Naaman’s servants went to him and said, “My father, if the prophet had told you to do some great thing, would you not have done it? How much more, then, when he tells you, ‘Wash and be cleansed’!” 
14  So he went down and dipped himself in the Jordan seven times, as the man of God had told him, and his flesh was restored and became clean like that of a young boy. 

On verses 13-14:  Elisha had told Naaman to wash himself seven times in the Jordan River and his leprosy would be cleansed. Naaman was outraged at how “unspiritual” Elisha’s advice was, believing Elisha’s advice to be purely practical and natural instead of supernatural (v11-12).  Yet his servants advise Naaman to take Elisha’s advice seriously (v13).  Naaman follows Elisha’s advice.  When he dips himself 7 times in the Jordan River, his leprosy is cleansed and his skin is restored (v14).

客旅的禱告

 11 到了一個地方,因為太陽落了,就在那裡住宿,便拾起那地方的一塊石頭枕在頭下,在那裡躺臥睡了。 12 夢見一個梯子立在地上,梯子的頭頂著天,有神的使者在梯子上上去下來。 13 耶和華站在梯子以上[a],說:「我是耶和華你祖亞伯拉罕的神,也是以撒的神,我要將你現在所躺臥之地賜給你和你的後裔。 14 你的後裔必像地上的塵沙那樣多,必向東西南北開展。地上萬族必因你和你的後裔得福。 15 我也與你同在,你無論往哪裡去,我必保佑你,領你歸回這地,總不離棄你,直到我成全了向你所應許的。」

雅各的經歷讓我想起四十年前隻身啟程前往美國求學的旅程,印象雖有點模糊,但是那種不知未來的不安情緒卻是無法遺忘。很感謝神,祂安排了一位老教授坐我鄰座,因轉機需在東京留宿一晚,我就跟著他後面出關、入關,一直平安到美國。那時候,我真實的領受到雅各單純、平凡的禱告,「保佑我,給我吃,給我穿,使我平平安安地回家」,因為我需要。

現在的禱告內容多了許多,工作難題、人際關係、家人需要、服事代禱…,牧者還不斷提醒我們要感謝,要讚美。是的!聖經教導我們在禱告中交託我們許許多多的生活需要,但是,有些時候我還是會渴慕像雅各那樣單純、平凡的禱告;因為我相信未祈求以先,天父已經知道我所需用的,而「有得吃,有得穿,享平安」就是我最平凡的需要。