晨興聖言-挪亞、但以理和約伯...(W5-2)
第五週 • 週二
晨興餧養
伯二3 …你曾用心察看我的僕人約伯沒有？地上沒有人像他完全且正直，敬畏神，遠離惡事；…他仍然持守他的純全。
約壹三2 親愛的，我們現在是神的兒女，將來如何，還未顯明；但我們曉得祂若顯現，我們必要像祂；因為我們必要看見祂，正如祂所是的。
『烏斯地有一個人名叫約伯；這人完全且正直，敬畏神，遠離惡事。』〔伯一1〕完全，與我們裏面的人有關；正直，與我們外面的人有關。不僅如此，正直也是不彎曲，不偏斜。…約伯不僅裏面完全、外面正直，更在積極一面敬畏神，在消極一面遠離惡事。…神造人不僅是要人敬畏祂、不犯錯。聖經告訴我們，神乃是按着自己的形像，照着自己的樣式造人，為叫人彰顯祂（創一26）。…最積極的事乃是彰顯神。彰顯神比敬畏神和遠離惡事更高（約伯記生命讀經，一一至一二頁）。
信息選讀
另一個說到約伯這人的辭是『純全』〔伯二3〕。…約伯的妻子問他：『你仍然持守你的純全麼？』〔9〕在約伯記二十七章五節約伯對他的朋友說，『我至死必不丟棄自己的純全。』最後在三十一章六節約伯宣告說，『願神…知道我的純全。』純全是完全和正直的總和，是完全加上正直的總和。就約伯而言，純全是他這人的總體表現。在性格上，他是完全、正直的；在道德上，他有高標準的純全。
約伯所達到的全是虛空，並沒有完成神的定旨，也沒有滿足神的願望。因此，神對約伯有愛的關切，而在天上舉行兩次會議，討論如何對付約伯（一6~8，二1~3）。…在道德上，約伯很好。按照人的看法，約伯沒有問題。神甚至向撒但誇獎約伯如何好（一8，二3）。惟有神知道約伯有一個需要，就是他缺少神。因着神對約伯有愛的關切，所以就在天上舉行會議討論約伯。…至終，神的目的是要使約伯成為屬神的人（提前六11，提後三17），充滿了作神具體化身的基督，成為神的豐滿，好在基督裏彰顯神，而不是一個高道德標準的人，有天然的完全、天然的正直和天然的純全，那是約伯想要維持並持守的（伯二3、9上）（約伯記生命讀經，一二、二○、一三、三五頁）。
基督徒應該追求得着神自己，過於一切的事物。…得着神，不是僅僅信有神，不是僅僅敬畏神；得着神，比這些更深入，更主觀。…許多有思想的人都信有神，也有許多人敬畏神，…卻不一定在他們裏面得着神。信仰基督，…是叫人在靈裏，在主觀方面得着神。…信神是叫人打開心接受神，讓祂進到人裏面，並住在人裏面，與人聯合，與人調和，到一個地步，神變作人裏面的成分。…當你讓神進到你裏面，作你的生命，作你的性情，成為你裏面的一部分；結果祂和你，你和祂，就完全聯合成為一。這就是作基督徒的意義；基督徒都該知道，神要人得着祂。
我們所說的得着神，不是僅僅在客觀方面相信祂，敬畏祂，更是在主觀方面把祂接受到我們裏面，讓祂作我們的生命，作我們的性情，在我們裏面與我們調和，到一個地步，祂成為我們的成分；祂的思想變作我們的思想，…祂的性情變作我們的性情，…祂的喜愛變作我們的喜愛，祂的趨向變作我們的趨向。…這個就叫作得着神（李常受文集一九五○至一九五一年第三冊，五四八至五四九頁）。
參讀：約伯記生命讀經，第二至四篇。
WEEK 5 — DAY 2
Morning Nourishment
Job
2:3 …Have you considered My servant Job? For there is none like him on
the earth, a perfect and upright man, who fears God and turns away from
evil. And he still holds fast his integrity…
1
John 3:2 Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not yet been
manifested what we will be. We know that if He is manifested, we will
be like Him because we will see Him even as He is.
“There
was a man in the land of Uz whose name was Job; and this man was
perfect and upright, and he feared God and turned away from evil” [Job
1:1]. Being perfect is related to the inner man, and being upright is
related to the outer man. Furthermore, to be upright means that we are
not crooked or biased. In addition to being perfect inwardly and upright
outwardly, Job feared God positively and turned away from evil
negatively…God did not create man merely to fear Him and not do anything
wrong. The Bible tells us that God created man in His own image and
according to His likeness that man may express Him (Gen. 1:26)…The most
positive thing is to express God. To express God is higher than fearing
God and turning away from evil. (Life-study of Job, p. 9)
Today’s Reading
Another
word used in relation to Job the man is integrity [Job 2:3]… Job’s wife
asked him, “Do you still hold fast your integrity?” [v. 9]. In 27:5 Job
said to his friends, “Until I die, I will not put away my integrity
from me.” Finally, in 31:6 Job declared, “Let God know my
integrity.”…Integrity is the totality of being perfect and being
upright; it is the totality of perfection plus uprightness. With respect
to Job, integrity is the total expression of what he was. In character
he was perfect and upright, and in his ethics he had a high standard of
integrity.
What
Job had attained was altogether vanity. It did not fulfill God’s
purpose, and it did not satisfy God’s desire. Thus, God was lovingly
concerned for Job and held two councils in heaven concerning how to deal
with Job (1:6-8; 2:1-3). Ethically speaking, Job was very good.
According to human eyes, there was no problem with Job. God even boasted
to Satan regarding how good Job was (1:8; 2:3). Only God knew that Job
had a need, that he was short of God. Because of His loving concern for
Job, God held a council in the heavens to talk about Job. Eventually,
God’s intention was to make Job a man of God (1 Tim. 6:11; 2 Tim. 3:17),
filled with Christ, the embodiment of God, to be the fullness of God
for the expression of God in Christ, not a man of the high standard of
ethics in Job’s natural perfection, natural uprightness, and natural
integrity, which Job attempted to maintain and hold (Job 2:3, 9a).
(Lifestudy of Job, pp. 10, 17, 11, 29)
Christians
should seek to gain God more than any other matter or thing… To gain
God is deeper and more subjective than merely to believe in His
existence or to fear Him. Many thoughtful people believe that God exists
and even fear Him, but God is not in them…To believe in God is to gain
Him subjectively in one’s spirit. When a person believes in God, he
opens his heart to receive God and to let God enter into him and dwell
in his spirit. Hence, he can be joined and mingled with God, and God can
become his element. When we let God enter into us to be our life and
nature and even our being, we are joined to Him as one. This is the
meaning of being a Christian. Every Christian should know that God
desires man to gain Him.
To
gain God does not refer merely to believing in Him or fearing Him
objectively. To gain God is to receive Him into us subjectively, that
is, to let Him be our life and nature and to let Him mingle with us
until He becomes our element. Then His thoughts will be our thoughts,
His emotions will be our emotions, His preferences will be our
preferences, and His inclinations will be our inclinations. This is what
it means to gain God. (CWWL, 1950-1951, vol. 3, “The Operation of God
and the Anointing,” pp. 405-406)
Further Reading: Life-study of Job, msgs. 2—4
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