晨興聖言-享受基督與在生命裏長大...(W1-3)
第一週■週三
晨興餧養
耶二13『因爲我的百姓，作了兩件惡事，就是離棄我這活水的泉源，爲自己鑿出池子，是破裂不能存水的池子。』
約四14『人若喝我所賜的水，就永遠不渴；我所賜的水，要在他裏面成爲泉源，直湧入永遠的生命。』
〔在耶利米二章十三節〕神要作活水的泉源給祂的選民喝，目的是祂要得着擴增並擴大。
神需要對祂的選民作活水的泉源，乃因祂有一個經綸；而祂的經綸是要爲自己產生一個配偶，新婦。神經綸的目的是神不再獨居，乃要得着一個妻子，作祂的擴增，祂的擴大，好與祂這丈夫相配。…施浸者約翰題到基督，說，『祂必擴增。』〔約三30。〕在前一節約翰說，『娶新婦的，就是新郎。』三十節的擴增，就是二十九節的新婦。新郎是基督，新婦是祂的擴增，祂的擴大。正如夏娃是用亞當的肋骨建造的，是亞當的擴增；照樣，神的選民是新婦，是基督這新郎的擴增。（耶利米書生命讀經，三○、三二至三三頁。）
信息選讀
神的經綸是要使祂自己得着彰顯。神不要獨自彰顯祂自己，乃要藉着祂的配偶彰顯祂自己。
我們雖然不忠信，神卻是信實的。哀歌三章二十三節下半說，『你的信實，極其廣大。』有一首著名的詩歌論到神的信實，（詩歌十三首，）副歌說，『你的信實廣大！…你的憐憫每晨都是新鮮！我所需要一切全由你供給…。』我們對聖經並對這首詩歌所說關於神信實的領會，可能是天然的，也可能是屬靈的。…有人說神是信實的，意思是祂信實的顧到他們物質的需要。然而，在林前一章九節保羅說，『神是信實的，你們乃是爲祂所召，進入了祂兒子我們主耶穌基督的交通。』神在這件事上是信實的，但祂也許沒有信實的供給你大的房子，或高薪的工作。我不否認神信實的顧到我們的福利。我的點乃是，神的信實並非照着我們天然的領會。
看看使徒保羅的苦難。他蒙神呼召、受神託付、委以負擔、並受差遣，然而他無論去到那裏，都有難處。譬如，他一開始傳揚基督，就遭受逼迫。…難道這是神對保羅不信實麼？不，這意思乃是：神的信實不是按照我們天然的領會。
我們相信主耶穌時，也許期望有平安和祝福；但我們也許反而有了許多難處，失去了我們的安全、健康或財產。有些基督徒經歷這樣的事，就疑惑神的信實，問說爲甚麼神不阻止艱難臨到他們。…我們要領悟，神允許我們有難處，但祂在祂的定旨上是信實的，就是要使我們轉離偶像，帶領我們歸向祂自己。我們的平安、安全、健康和財產，也許成了我們的偶像，而神是信實的，祂取去這些東西，爲要我們飲於祂這活水的泉源。…神的信實就是要對付這些偶像，好使我們飲於祂。
在引導我們進入祂的經綸上，神是信實的；祂的經綸乃是要我們喝基督，喫基督，享受基督，吸取基督，並吸收基督，好叫神在我們身上得着祂的擴增，以完成祂的經綸。這就是神的信實。（耶利米書生命讀經，三二至三五頁。）
參讀：耶利米書生命讀經，第四、六篇；得勝者，第二至三章。
WEEK 1 — DAY 3
Morning Nourishment
Jer. 2:13 For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, to hew out for themselves cisterns, broken cisterns, which hold no water.
John 4:14 But whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall by no means thirst forever; but the water that I will give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into eternal life.
God is the fountain of living waters [Jer. 2:13]…God’s purpose in wanting to be the fountain of living waters for His elect to drink is that He would be increased and enlarged.
God needs to be the fountain of living waters to His elect because He
has an economy, and His economy is to produce a counterpart, a bride,
for Himself. The purpose of God’s economy is that God would no longer be
alone but would have a wife to be His increase, His enlargement, and
thus to match Him as the Husband…John the Baptist, speaking of Christ,
says, “He must increase” [John 3:30]. In the previous verse John had
said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” The increase in verse 30
is the bride in verse 29. The Bridegroom is Christ, and the bride is
His increase, His enlargement. Just as Eve was the increase of Adam,
being built from Adam’s rib, so God’s elect as the bride are the
increase of Christ as the Bridegroom. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 25,
27)
Today’s Reading
God’s economy is to have an expression of Himself. God does not want to express Himself by Himself alone; rather, He wants to express Himself through His counterpart.
Although we are unfaithful, God is faithful.
Lamentations 3:23b says, “Great is Your faithfulness.” The chorus of a
well-known hymn on God’s faithfulness (Hymns, #19) says, “Great is Thy
faithfulness!…/ Morning by morning new mercies I see. / All I have
needed Thy hand hath provided…” We may understand what the Bible says
and what this hymn says about God’s faithfulness either in a natural way
or in a spiritual way…When some say that God is faithful, they mean
that He is faithful to take care of their material needs. However, in 1
Corinthians 1:9 Paul says, “God is faithful, through whom you were
called into the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” God is
faithful in this matter, but He may not be faithful to provide you a
large house or a well-paying job. I would not deny the fact that God is
faithful in caring for our welfare. My point is that God’s faithfulness
is not according to our natural understanding.
Consider the sufferings of the apostle Paul. He was called, commissioned,
burdened, and sent by God, but wherever he went, he had troubles. For
example, as soon as he began to preach Christ, he began to suffer
persecution… Does this mean that God was not faithful to Paul? No, it
means that God’s faithfulness is not according to our natural
understanding.
When we believed in the Lord Jesus, we might have expected to have
peace and blessing. But instead we might have had many troubles and
might have lost our security, our health, or our possessions. When some
Christians experience such things, they may question God’s faithfulness
and ask why He did not prevent hardships from happening to them. We need
to realize that in allowing us to have troubles, God is faithful in His
purpose to turn us from idols and bring us back to Himself. Our peace,
safety, health, and possessions may become idols to us, and God is
faithful to take these things away so that we may drink of Him as the
fountain of living waters…God’s faithfulness is a matter of dealing with
these idols and causing us to drink of Him.
God is faithful in leading us into His economy, and His economy is for us to
drink Christ, to eat Christ, to enjoy Christ, to absorb Christ, and to
assimilate Christ that God may have His increase with us to fulfill His
economy. This is God’s faithfulness. (Life-study of Jeremiah, pp. 26-29)
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