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Get Unstuck

Life feels stuck when life makes no progress. When you battle the same discouragement you faced a decade ago or struggle with the same fears you faced a year ago. When you feel as though everyone gets to the pool before you and nobody wants to help you.

Friend, Jesus sees you. He has a new version of you waiting to happen. He says to you what he said to the man near the Pool of Bethesda. “Stand up, pick up your mat and walk” (John 5:8 NLT).

Stand up, do something, take action. Pick up your mat, make a clean break with the past, and walk…hit the trail. Assume that something good is going to happen. Set your sights on a new destination and begin the hike. Getting unstuck means getting excited about getting out. And remember friend, you are never alone.

波阿斯迎娶路得

〈路得記〉4:15 他必提起你的精神,奉養你的老,因為是愛慕你的那兒婦所生的。有這兒婦比有七個兒子還好。

閱讀經文:〈路得記〉4:1-22

每個人都想尋得真正的愛情,而愛情又唯有碰到試驗時,才能顯露出其本質。甜言蜜語很容易,但若是要用財產去換取,你願不願意?波阿斯就受到了這樣的考驗。在波阿斯所講的那位至近的親屬眼中,路得是誰?他知道拿俄米,因為他們是至親,但路得是個摩押女子,與他何干?若是娶了拿俄米,這個老太婆生不出孩子,以利米勒的地就歸他了;若是娶了路得,年輕女人總還會生育,生了第一個兒子,地就是這個小傢伙的,那他落得兩袖清風,何苦?因此他寧可脫鞋。

Question at Bethesda

On that particular day at the pool of Bethesda, Jesus was drawn to the main character of this miracle. John 5:5-7 (NLT) reads like this: “When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him, ‘Would you like to get well?’ ‘I can’t, sir,’ the man said, ‘for I have no one to put me into the pool when the water bubbles up.’”

What an odd question to ask a sick person. Why would Jesus pose such a question? The man was 38 years as an invalid. The duration of the condition prompted Jesus to ask, “Would you like to get well?”

Getting well means getting up, getting a job, getting on with life. Do you really want to be healed? That’s the question Jesus asked then. That’s the question Jesus asks all of us. Do you want to get well? Remember my friend, you are never alone.

拿俄米的計劃

〈路得記〉  3:5     路得說:「凡你所吩咐的,我必遵行。」

閱讀經文:〈路得記〉 3:1-18

在男女交往之間,一直以來有個不成文的規定,一般都是鳳求凰。因而也有人問,那麼就不可以凰求鳳嗎?當然有凰求鳳的例子,而且成功的還不少。當拿俄米向路得提出這個凰求鳳的建議時,路得的反應是:「凡你所吩咐的,我必遵行」。路得不是以色列人,可能不懂得以色列人的規矩和傳統,但是她相信拿俄米。在她要跟著拿俄米回伯利恒時,她已經說了:「你往哪裡去,我也往哪裡去;你在哪裡住宿,我也在哪裡住宿。你的國就是我的國,你的神就是我的神。你在哪裡死,我也在哪裡死,也葬在那裡。除非死能使你我相離。」這種信心,就是神向我們要的信心,即使死亡也不能使我們與主分離。

Waiting on Help

The man near the pool of Bethesda didn’t use the word “stuck,” but he sure could have. For 38 years near the edge of a pool, it was just him, his mat, and his paralyzed body. And since no one would help him, help never came.

Crowds of people, despondent, dejected, one after the other, awaited their chance to be placed in the pool where healing waters bubbled up. Can you envision them? And more important, can you envision Jesus walking among them?

All the gospels’ stories of help and healing invite us to embrace this wonderful promise: “Wherever Jesus went, he healed people of every sort of illness. And what pity he felt for the crowds that came because their problems were so great and they didn’t know what to do or where to go for help” (Matthew 9:35-36 TLB).

My friend, remember Jesus sees you and you are never alone.

仁慈的波阿斯

〈路得記〉   2:12   願耶和華照你所行的賞賜你。你來投靠耶和華以色列神的翅膀下,願你滿得祂的賞賜。

閱讀經文:〈路得記〉   2:1-23

路得之所以被世人所稱讚,除了她願意犧牲自己美好的青春年華,去侍候一個年老的婆婆,還有她那善體人意的好心腸。她跟著拿俄米回伯利恒,並不是為了要享福。她很清楚知道自己將要面臨的生活,必須承擔起照顧婆婆的責任。伯利恒對她而言是塊陌生的土地,幸好語言方面並無障礙,她已習慣了和婆婆溝通的方式。回到伯利恒解決了住的問題,其次就是吃的問題。她沒有日坐愁城地等待,而是決定成為一個可以供應家庭的人。

拿俄米的回歸

〈路得記〉  1:16  路得說:「不要催我回去不跟隨你!你往哪裡去,我也往哪裡去;你在哪裡住宿,我也在哪裡住宿。你的國就是我的國,你的神就是我的神。」

閱讀經文:〈路得記〉 1:1-22

〈路得記〉是發生在士師秉政時期的一個溫馨感人的故事,也再一次讓我們看到人若有對耶和華神的信心,神的祝福是何等地大。從亞伯拉罕到迦南地開始,我們就不時看到迦南地有饑荒。亞伯拉罕曾因而下埃及、到非利士地去躲避饑荒;以撒也曾經想去埃及,但是神叫他留在基拉耳,非利士人之地。在士師秉政時,迦南地又有饑荒,伯利恒素來稱為「魚米之鄉」,阿拉伯語的意思是「肉籃子」,希伯來文之意是「麵包之家」,麵包是指各樣的糧食,所以又稱「糧倉」,主要都在形容她的富庶。現在她以耶穌誕生的聖地聞名於世,生產以橄欖木和珍珠貝為原料的宗教記念品、刺繡工藝品,也是農產巿場和貿易中心。

Take Jesus at His Word

This life contains many walks from Cana to Capernaum. Journeys between prayer offered and prayer answered. Jesus promised the boy’s father a sure blessing at the end of the journey. He promises the same to us.

We will meet this father when we get to heaven, and when we do I’m gonna ask him about that walk. I want to hear how he felt. I want to know what he thought. But most of all, I want to thank him for inspiring this verse: “The man took Jesus at his word and departed” (John 4:50 NIV).

Do likewise. Set your compass on the pole star of God’s promise. Place one weary foot in front of the other. Jesus has spoken. Let his word do what it was intended to do, and that is lead you home. Remember my friend, you are never alone.

任意而行的人生

〈士師記〉    21:25  那時以色列中沒有王,各人任意而行。

閱讀經文:〈士師記〉   21:1-25

在〈士師記〉   的初期,以色列人還可以為了征討不法之人而同心敵愾;在底波拉時,有的支派各自營生,已經無法同心;到了參孫時,神只能用他單打獨鬥非利士人。在〈士師記〉   裡,以色列人猶如一盤散沙,沒有王,各人任意而行。以色列人攻打便雅憫人時,正是亞倫的孫子,以利亞撒的兒子非尼哈做大祭司的時候,所以這場內戰應發生在〈士師記〉的早期。以色列人在米斯巴集合,如同一人去攻打便雅憫人,但是他們打勝仗之後,卻痛哭不止,為什麼?

以色列人的內戰

〈士師記〉   20:46 那日便雅憫死了的共有二萬五千人,都是拿刀的勇士。

閱讀經文:〈士師記〉  20:1-48

「但」是指但族人定居的拉億。「別是巴」這名字的意思是「七之井」(七是指七隻母羊羔)。亞伯拉罕和以撒都曾居住於此地,亞伯拉罕與基拉耳王亞比米勒曾在別是巴井旁起誓,所以又解作「盟誓的井」(創21:31),位於耶路撒冷的西南邊77公里,是現今以色列南區的行政中心。南地就是指別是巴和其附近的地區。別是巴的居民在波斯時代遷離原址,定居在它東邊之地,開發了另一個別是巴城,就是今日別是巴的所在。教會史之父優西比烏描繪它為一個位於希伯崙南邊40公里的大鄉村。舊約描繪以色列的國界,一般都說「從但到別是巴」,意思即全以色列。「基列地」從廣義來說,可以包括整個(屬以色列)的外約但地區,也就是約但河東的以色列人地區。