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You Stop Being a Blessing When You Do THIS

2020-01-27 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Job 15:1-16.  Let’s go!

Job 15:4-9 (NIV) 
4  But you even undermine piety and hinder devotion to God. 
5  Your sin prompts your mouth; you adopt the tongue of the crafty. 
6  Your own mouth condemns you, not mine; your own lips testify against you. 
7  “Are you the first man ever born? Were you brought forth before the hills? 
8  Do you listen in on God’s council? Do you limit wisdom to yourself? 
9  What do you know that we do not know? What insights do you have that we do not have?
 
On verses 1-16:  Even after Job has lost virtually everything and has told his friends exactly what he needs from them – he needs them to shut up and just listen to him (Job 13:5-6) – Eliphaz cannot help himself.  Eliphaz insists on speaking up one more time.  With even more vitriol and accusation on his tongue than before, Eliphaz accuses Job of being foolish (v2-3), undevoted to God (v4), sinful (v5), self-condemning (v6), prideful and arrogant (v7-9), ungrateful to God (v11), rageful (v12-13), vile and corrupt (v14-16). 

The Real Hope of Resurrection

2020-01-26 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Job 14:13-22.

Job 14:13-15 (NIV) 
13  “If only you would hide me in the grave and conceal me till your anger has passed! If only you would set me a time and then remember me! 
14  If a man dies, will he live again? All the days of my hard service I will wait for my renewal to come. 
15  You will call and I will answer you; you will long for the creature your hands have made.
 
On verses 13-22:  Job longs for life after death, that somehow God would gloriously resurrect his life after he dies (v13-15) and no longer count his sins against him (v16-17).  But as much as Job hopes for this, Job sees resurrection as an unrealistic possibility and concludes that life is hopeless (v18-22).

詩篇一百卅六篇

2020-01-26 in /by

1你們要稱謝耶和華，因祂本為善，祂的慈愛永遠長存！
2 你們要稱謝萬神之神，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
3 你們要稱謝萬主之主，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
4 稱謝那獨行大奇事的，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
5 稱謝那用智慧造天的，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
6 稱謝那鋪地在水以上的，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
7 稱謝那造成大光的，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
8 祂造日頭管白晝，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
9 祂造月亮星宿管黑夜，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！
10 稱謝那擊殺埃及人之長子的，因祂的慈愛永遠長存！…….

今天是大年初三，在新春讀這首詩篇再合宜不過了，因為它的主題是：「因祂的慈愛永遠長存！」尤其是在新型冠狀病毒肆虐之際，大陸己有十幾個城巿封城；而溫哥華雖然還沒有確診病例，卻己經有一些教會取消春節的慶祝，做禮拜的人數也急速消減。人的心何等軟弱，只要一些風聲，就嚇得心顫腳軟了。

我們都很膽小，不要說有一些人沒膽，膽被拿掉了；就是有膽的人，在疾病和死亡面前也無法明目張膽。平常口花花的人，現在己經把口罩買到斷巿了。這就是人的本相。但是在我們心存恐懼時，我們還可以轉眼仰望神，因為祂的慈愛永遠長存！在古時如此，現今依然如是。人不能靠自己，唯一可靠的只有神。

詩篇一百卅五篇

2020-01-25 in /by

1你們要讚美耶和華！你們要讚美耶和華的名！
2耶和華的僕人站在耶和華殿中，站在我們神殿院中的，你們要讚美祂！
3 你們要讚美耶和華，耶和華本為善；要歌頌祂的名，因為這是美好的。
4 耶和華揀選雅各歸自己，揀選以色列特做自己的子民。
5 原來我知道耶和華為大，也知道我們的主超乎萬神之上。
6 耶和華在天上，在地下，在海中，在一切的深處，都隨自己的意旨而行。
7 祂使雲霧從地極上騰，造電隨雨而閃，從府庫中帶出風來。
8 祂將埃及頭生的，連人帶牲畜都擊殺了。
9 埃及啊，他施行神蹟奇事在你當中，在法老和他一切臣僕身上。
10 祂擊殺許多的民，又殺戮大能的王，……

耶和華的僕人要讚美祂，耶和華的僕人是指誰呢？相信神的人，有誰不是祂的僕人，而是祂的主人呢？這樣一想，我們就明白，我們都是神的僕人，只是事工不同。

詩人談到神的揀選，談到神的本質，神的性情，用來比較外邦人所拜的偶像。今天是農曆年的大年初一，這時候有很多人去廟裡上香拜拜，有很多人預言，有很多人論風水，當我們處在這樣的環境中時，怎樣堅持我們所信的？會不會有人也很想去抽一支籤，來看看自己今年的運道如何？會不會有時心癢癢，好想知道鼠年自己該穿什麼顏色的衣服才會有財運？

Fact Checking Job

2020-01-24 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Job 14:1-12.  Let’s go!

Job 14:1-2 (NIV) 
1  “Man born of woman is of few days and full of trouble. 
2  He springs up like a flower and withers away; like a fleeting shadow, he does not endure.

On verses 1-2:  In Job’s pain, anger and frustration, not everything that Job says should be taken as gospel.  Just as we had to do with Job’s friends, we need to fact check Job, separating the wheat from the chaff in his words.  Here in verses 1-2 Job speaks of how finite and short man’s life on earth is.  This is true.  It resonates with other verses in Scripture such as Psalm 103:15-16 where it says, “As for man, his days are like grass, he flourishes like a flower of the field; the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.”   Part of living humbly before God is recognizing that life is short and that every day is a gift.  So make the most of today.
 

Don’t Be Afraid. You Got Jesus.

2020-01-23 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Job 13:20-28.

Job 13:20-28 (NIV) 
20  “Only grant me these two things, O God, and then I will not hide from you: 21  Withdraw your hand far from me, and stop frightening me with your terrors.
22  Then summon me and I will answer, or let me speak, and you reply. 23  How many wrongs and sins have I committed? Show me my offense and my sin………

On verses 20-28:  Here Job asks God to withdraw His hand from him and to stop frightening him so that he can have a conversation with Him (v21-22).  Job invites God to show him in what way he has sinned (v23).  Job goes on to describe God as a mysterious attacker who torments and chases a weak and helpless person (v25), who considers Job his enemy (v24) and who has judgment and bitter things in store for Job (v26).  Job sees God as a prison warden and himself as His prisoner (v27), whose life is wasting away for as long as God is focusing on him (v28).

詩篇一百卅四篇

2020-01-23 in /by

上行之詩。

1 耶和華的僕人，夜間站在耶和華殿中的，你們當稱頌耶和華！
2 你們當向聖所舉手，稱頌耶和華！
3 願造天地的耶和華，從錫安賜福給你們！

上行到耶路撒冷是朝聖者的心願，這些人一來希望能夠有機會去聖殿敬拜神，二來希望能享受到與屬靈肢體的溝通，三來則希望領受到神的祝福。因此在〈詩篇〉第133篇裡說到弟兄和睦同居是何等的美，何等的善，似乎在講一個屬靈的高峰就是享受與主內肢體和睦同居的關係，也就是說倘若在主裡有很好的人際關係，是靈裡生活的一個非常美好的境界。但是134篇向我們指出了另一個事實，就是當朝聖者都散去回家時，入夜後，聖殿裡只留下幾個看守聖殿的祭司，和在聖殿服侍的人。朝聖者回家後也要面對類似的，靈性上的孤獨和寂寞。

在享受過肢體交通的喜樂之後，在教會的敬拜之後，在團契的聚會結束之後，你可記得有哪些人留下來默默地收拾？這些在事後收拾的，神的僕人，即使感到孤獨、冷清或有點寂寞，詩人說，在這樣的情況下，應當稱頌耶和華！夜間的守望者，是孤獨的，卻不孤單，因為聖殿裡的主角，我們信仰的尊者，仍然與他們同在，也與每一個敬拜神的人同在。

Lend Your Ear and Hold Your Tongue

2020-01-22 in /by

Hi GAMErs,

Today’s passage is Job 13:1-19.  Let’s go!
 
Job 13:4-5 (NIV) 
4  You, however, smear me with lies; you are worthless physicians, all of you! 
5  If only you would be altogether silent! For you, that would be wisdom.
 
On verses 1-5:   Job is frustrated and fed up with hearing from his so-called “friends”.  He tells them that whatever they have already told him he already knows (v1-2) – “what you know, I already know.  I am not inferior to you” (v2).  He calls his friends “worthless physicians” (v4), lie-smearing accusers whose advice did not help.  He tells them it would be wiser for them just to shut their mouths (“If only you were altogether silent!  For you, that would be wisdom.” (v5)). 
What can we learn from this?  Sometimes the best thing you can do as a friend is to lend your ear and hold your tongue.  Job’s friends would have helped Job far more, and been much better off themselves, had they been “quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to become angry” (James 1:19).  As Proverbs 21:23 (MSG) says, “Watch your words and hold your tongue; you’ll save yourself a lot of grief.”

詩篇一百卅三篇

2020-01-22 in /by

大衛上行之詩。

1 看哪，弟兄和睦同居是何等地善，何等地美！
2 這好比那貴重的油澆在亞倫的頭上，流到鬍鬚，又流到他的衣襟。
3 又好比黑門的甘露降在錫安山，因為在那裡有耶和華所命定的福，就是永遠的生命。

群山雖是獨立個體，卻又彼此相和，弟兄和睦相居也是。

黑門山的甘露會降在錫安山。黑門山位於以色列的北方，是中東地區第二高山（最高的為黎巴嫩群山的主峰，高度3000公尺），高度2760公尺。

鍚安山位於以色列的南方，是個丘陵，高度743公尺，兩人的間距約180公里。

黑門山的甘露，怎麼會降在遠處的錫安山呢？甘露會移動那麼遠嗎？山與山不連在一起，也會傳送露珠嗎？

答案是肯定的。

黑門山是座大山，涵蓋面積約一千平方公里，山呈南北縱向，西部吹進的海風，受阻於黑門山，海風向山上騰，每上升一百公尺，溫度約下降攝氏一度，上升黑門山頂已經成為冷氣團。環繞在山頭的冷氣團，停滯在山上就形成露珠；白天溫度較高時，冷氣團順著約旦河兵陵南下，一直移動到約旦河底，甚至到以法蓮山地的錫安山。

詩篇一百卅二篇

2020-01-21 in /by

上行之詩。

1 耶和華啊，求祢記念大衛所受的一切苦難。
2 他怎樣向耶和華起誓，向雅各的大能者許願，
3 說：「我必不進我的帳幕，也不上我的床榻。
4 我不容我的眼睛睡覺，也不容我的眼目打盹。
5 直等我為耶和華尋得所在，為雅各的大能者尋得居所。」
6 我們聽說約櫃在以法他，我們在基列耶琳就尋見了。
7 我們要進祂的居所，在祂腳凳前下拜。
8 耶和華啊，求祢興起，和祢有能力的約櫃同入安息之所。
9 願祢的祭司披上公義，願祢的聖民歡呼。
10 求祢因祢僕人大衛的緣故，不要厭棄祢的受膏者。…….

這詩篇和〈撒母耳記〉下第七章有異曲同工之妙，大衛住在自己的王宮內，想到約櫃還在幔子（帳幕）裡，就想要為神建殿。大衛在這詩篇中把他的迫切表達得十分透徹：“我必不進我的帳幕，也不上我的床榻。我不容我的眼睛睡覺，也不容我的眼目打盹。直等我為耶和華尋得所在，為雅各的大能者尋得居所。” 他覺得神的約櫃沒有住處，他也無法住得安穩，這是大衛對神的愛。

大衛差人把神的約櫃從基列耶琳迎回耶路撒冷，但是因為祭司沒有按著神的教導抬約櫃，以致駄著約櫃的牛失前蹄，烏撒用手去扶，被神擊殺；約櫃因而安置到俄別以東的家，三個月後才抬到大衛的城裡安置。大衛渴慕神的同在，這是他最蒙神喜悅的一點吧。整本新舊約聖經裡，只有一個人得到神如此的稱許，合神的心意，就是大衛。大衛有他的軟弱，大衛不完全，但是他對神的渴慕無人能比。