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經文：「那時他們才信了祂的話，歌唱讚美祂。等不多時，他們就忘了祂的作為，不仰望祂的指教，反倒在曠野大起慾心，在荒地試探神。祂將他們所求的賜給他們，卻使他們心靈軟弱。」（詩106:12-15） 我們曾經讀過關於摩西的記載；「他恆心忍耐，如同看見那不能看見的主。」（來11:27）；但是當時的以色列人卻和摩西正好相反。他們只會在環境順遂的時候歌唱讚美神；一旦環境改變，信心也就隨之改變；原本可以在那看不見的永生神裡得安息，結果卻被四圍的物質環境所挾制。 有一類基督徒，他們的生活有時冷，有時熱；有時高，有時低；這是為甚麼呢？原因就是他們被物質的環境所挾制，原本應該以神為中心的，結果卻是以環境為中心。神寧願我們在每一件事上都看見祂，對於任何包含祂信息的事物，一件也不會忽略。 再回到剛才我們讀的以色列人「那時他們才信了祂的話。」；也就是說，他們本來一直不信，直到看見神的作為以後才信。當他們行近紅海的時候，他們對於神還是懷疑的；但是當神為他們開了路，帶領他們走過，又讓他們看見法老和他的軍隊全都被海淹沒「那時他們才信。」 正是因為這樣的信心，他們才始終過著不上不下的生活；這種倚靠環境的信心，是無法讓神滿足的。世界告訴我們應該「眼見而信」，但是神要我們「信而得見」。詩篇的作者說：「我若不信在活人之地得見耶和華的恩惠，就早已喪膽了。」（詩27:13） 親愛的讀者，你是只在環境順利的時候信神呢，還是不論環境如何，你總是相信？--C.H.P. 信心就是相信我們看不見的，信心的回報就是看見我們所相信的。--聖奧古斯丁 St, Augustine 新譯｜荒漠甘泉讀書會
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Scripture: "Then believed they his words; they sang his praise. They soon forgot his works; they waited not for his counsel; but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert. And he gave them their request; but sent leanness into their soul" (Ps. 106:12-15). We read of Moses, that "he endured, as seeing him who is invisible." Exactly the opposite was true of the children of Israel in this record. They endured only when the circumstances were favorable; they were largely governed by the things that appealed to their senses, in place of resting in the invisible and eternal God. In the present day there are those who live intermittent Christian lives because they have become occupied with the outward, and center in circumstances, in place of centering in God. God wants us more and more to see Him in everything, and to call nothing small if it bears us His message. Here we read of the children of Israel, "Then they believed his words." They did not believe till after they saw--when they saw Him work, then they believed. They really doubted God when they came to the Red Sea; but when God opened the way and led them across and they saw Pharaoh and his host drowned--"then they believed." They led an up and down life because of this kind of faith; it was a faith that depended upon circumstances. This is not the kind of faith God wants us to have. The world says "seeing is believing," but God wants us to believe in order to see. The Psalmist said, "I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." Do you believe God only when the circumstances are favorable, or do you believe no matter what the circumstances may be?-- C. H. P. Faith is to believe what we do not see, and the reward of this faith is to see what we believe. --St. Augustine ｜ Mrs. Charles Cowman
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