巴谷书3:17-18 虽然无花果树不发旺，葡萄树不结果，橄榄树也不效力，田地不出粮食，圈中绝了羊，棚内也没有牛；然而，我要因耶和华欢欣，因救我的神喜乐。
保罗和同工西拉在腓立比传讲福音（使徒行传16:16-40），被诬告而遭到捉拿，受到众人攻击、殴打，最后被下到监里，双脚上了木狗，处境极为艰难。然而，即便是在这样的困境中，保罗和西拉并没有感到绝望，反而在监里祷告，并且唱诗赞美神。
这时，令人惊奇的事发生了。一场地震使监牢的地基摇动，监门全开，囚犯的锁链也都松开了。惊慌的狱卒以为囚犯都逃走了，想要拔刀自尽，但保罗喊住他：「不要伤害自己！我们都在这里。」
狱卒被保罗和西拉的喜乐、信心及行为感动，战兢地俯伏在他们面前，问道：「我当怎样行才可以得救？」他们回应说：「当信主耶稣，你和你一家都必得救。」（使徒行传16:30-31）最后，狱卒和他的全家接受了福音，并受了洗。
圣灵的同在带给使徒力量与喜乐，即便是在最黑暗的时刻。保罗和西拉的信心和喜乐不仅让自己得安慰，还让其他人被感化，并荣耀了神。
Crankcase oil coursed my dad’s veins. He repaired engines for a living; Dad loved machines. God gave my dad a mechanical moron, a son who couldn’t differentiate between a differential and a brake disc. Dad tried to teach me. I tried to learn. Honestly, I did. Machines anesthetized me, but books fascinated me.
What does a mechanic do with a son who loves books? He gives him a library card. Buys him a few volumes for Christmas. Places a lamp by his bed so he can read at night. Pays tuition so his son can study college literature in high school. My dad did that. You know what he didn’t do? Never once did he say, “Why can’t you be a mechanic like your dad and granddad?”
Study your children while you can. The greatest gift you can give your children is not your riches, but revealing to them their own.
加拉太书5:6 原来在基督耶稣里，受割礼不受割礼全无功效，惟独使人生发仁爱的信心才有功效。
德蕾莎修女(Mother Teresa)以她对印度加尔各答贫困病患的无私奉献而闻名于世。她创立了「仁爱传教女修会」，致力于照顾「最贫困中的贫困者」。她不仅提供食物、医疗照护，更重要的是，她给予那些被社会遗弃的人们爱与尊严。她的行动表达对人们最深切的关怀，即使面对艰难的环境，也始终坚持付出爱。
曼德拉(Nelson Mandela)在南非种族隔离时期，为了争取平等与正义，被监禁长达27年。出狱后，他没有选择报复，而是以宽恕与和解来带领南非走向和平转型。他的行动展现出强大的仁爱力量，即使面对曾经迫害自己的人，也能够选择宽恕，并为整个社会福祉而努力。
How would you fill in this blank: a person is made right with God through…what? A person is made right with God through…being good. Pay your taxes. Give sandwiches to the poor. Don’t drink too much, or drink at all. Christian conduct, that’s the secret. Suffering, there’s the answer. Doctrine, that’s how to be made right with God.
No, no, no. All of the above are tried, all are taught, but none are from God. In fact, that’s the problem – none are from God. Who does the saving, you or him?
Romans 3:28 says, “A person is made right with God through faith.” Not through good works, suffering, or doctrine. They may be the result of salvation, but they’re not the cause of it. Faith in God’s sacrifice, in the gift of his Son. It’s not what you do; it’s what he did.
The Bible says in Romans 8:28 that “in everything God works for the good of those who love him.” Do this simple exercise. Remove the word “everything” and replace it with the symbol of your tragedy. How would Romans 8:28 read in your life? In hospital stays God works for the good. In divorce papers God works for the good. As hard as it may be to believe, you could be only a Saturday away from a resurrection. Hours from that precious prayer of a changed heart. “God, you did this for me?”
“Everything that was written in the past was written to teach us,” Paul said. “The Scriptures give us patience and encouragement so that we can have hope” (Romans 15:4 NCV). These are not somewhere-over-the-rainbow illusions. They are historic moments in which a real God met real pain so we could answer the question, “where is God when I hurt?”
约伯记 23:10 然而祂知道我所行的路，祂试炼我之后，我必如精金。
约伯记42:5 我从前风闻有祢，现在亲眼看见祢。
当大火席卷而过，一切尽毁后，能存留下来的是什么？是稻禾、碎屑，还是精金？
甚么材料是信心的根基？我们所仰望的，是神蹟奇事，还是平凡却深远的点滴？如果今天上帝没有医治我的病，祂就不是我的救主吗？如果我一生贫困潦倒，最终未能进入更美的国度，祂就不信实吗？如果恶人没有受到惩罚，祂就不公义吗？
但，真的是这样吗？我们的信心，真的建立在这些条件之上吗？是神蹟？是命运的逆转？还是恶人遭报？
诗篇第23篇 大卫的诗。
1 耶和华是我的牧者，我必不致缺乏。
2 祂使我躺卧在青草地上，领我在可安歇的水边。
3 祂使我的灵魂苏醒，为自己的名引导我走义路。
4 我虽然行过死荫的幽谷，也不怕遭害，因为祢与我同在，祢的杖、祢的竿都安慰我。
5 在我敌人面前，祢为我摆设筵席，祢用油膏了我的头，使我的福杯满溢。
6 我一生一世必有恩惠、慈爱随着我，我且要住在耶和华的殿中，直到永远。
久未谋面的西北弟兄回应昨天「我必不致缺乏」的分享，他捎来Leanna Crawford在2024年创作的一首以诗篇第23篇为灵感的歌曲《Still Waters》（可安歇的水边），这首歌带来一个不同的诠释。
Leanna在歌曲中唱出「我现在正缺乏」的渴望…，我知道祢的话语充满力量，所以我要一遍又一遍地说，直到我的灵魂苏醒(I’ll say it over and over till my soul’s reminded)。这首歌的中译歌词是这样写着…
玛琳姑妈一百零三岁时说：将经文刻在心版上，以备不时之需。
I’m about to tell you something you may find hard to believe. You don’t have to agree with me, but I’d like you to consider it with me. Here it is: if you were the only person on earth, the earth would look exactly the same. The Himalayas would still have their drama and the Caribbean its charm. The sun would still nestle behind the Rockies in the evenings and spray light on the desert in the mornings.
If you were the sole pilgrim on this globe, God would not diminish its beauty one degree.
Because he did it all for you. And he’s waiting for you to discover his gift, for your eyes to pop, your heart to stop. He’s waiting for the moment between the dropping of the jaw and the leap of the heart. For in that silence he whispers, “I did it just for you.”
They sat on opposite sides of the room, a man and a woman, bidding on an adorable puppy at a school auction. Others dropped off, but not this duo. Back and forth until they’d one-upped the bid to several thousand dollars. This was the Wimbledon finals, and neither player was backing off the net. Finally, the fellow gave in and didn’t return the bid. Going once, going twice, sold! You know what she did? Amidst the applause, she walked across the room and presented the puppy to the competition.
Suppose you did that to the competition, with your enemy, with the boss who fired you. Suppose you surprised them with kindness. Not easy? No, it’s not. But mercy is the deepest gesture of kindness.
诗篇第23篇 大卫的诗。
1 耶和华是我的牧者，我必不致缺乏。
2 祂使我躺卧在青草地上，领我在可安歇的水边。
3 祂使我的灵魂苏醒，为自己的名引导我走义路。
4 我虽然行过死荫的幽谷，也不怕遭害，因为祢与我同在，祢的杖、祢的竿都安慰我。
5 在我敌人面前，祢为我摆设筵席，祢用油膏了我的头，使我的福杯满溢。
6 我一生一世必有恩惠、慈爱随着我，我且要住在耶和华的殿中，直到永远。
每一次读大卫所写的诗篇第23篇，总会有不一样的领受。大卫是牧羊人，他深深体会牧羊人照顾羊群的心意，他说：「耶和华是我的牧者，我必不致缺乏。」这句话反映出，他处身羊群，他「满足」于神的牧养。
「我必不致缺乏(I shall not want)」指的是「够了，不缺乏，就无所需求」；有如诗篇16:2，大卫的心对神说：「我的好处不在祢以外(I have no good apart from you)」，一切的好处都在神里面，在神里面就不致缺乏。「我必不致缺乏」这句话是诗篇第23篇的起头，也是结论。
如果您希望通过电子邮件，收看我们的最新文章，我们将会为您订阅『福音快讯』，每周五发送。
每日亲近神 2012-2018 数据整理中