Why are you fearful, O you of little faith? —Matthew 8:26
When we are afraid, the least we can do is pray to God. But our Lord has a right to expect that those who name His name have an underlying confidence in Him. God expects His children to be so confident in Him that in any crisis they are the ones who are reliable. Yet our trust is only in God up to a certain point, then we turn back to the elementary panic-stricken prayers of those people who do not even know God. We come to our wits’ end, showing that we don’t have even the slightest amount of confidence in Him or in His sovereign control of the world. To us He seems to be asleep, and we can see nothing but giant, breaking waves on the sea ahead of us.
“. . . O you of little faith!” What a stinging pain must have shot through the disciples as they surely thought to themselves, “We missed the mark again!” And what a sharp pain will go through us when we suddenly realize that we could have produced complete and utter joy in the heart of Jesus by remaining absolutely confident in Him, in spite of what we were facing.
There are times when there is no storm or crisis in our lives, and we do all that is humanly possible. But it is when a crisis arises that we instantly reveal upon whom we rely. If we have been learning to worship God and to place our trust in Him, the crisis will reveal that we can go to the point of breaking, yet without breaking our confidence in Him.
We have been talking quite a lot about sanctification, but what will be the result in our lives? It will be expressed in our lives as a peaceful resting in God, which means a total oneness with Him. And this oneness will make us not only blameless in His sight, but also a profound joy to Him.
安息神學
你們這小信的人哪，為什麼膽怯呢？ （太八26）
我們恐懼的時候，最不可少的就是向神禱告；可是，我們的主有權要求屬他的人，對他有一種深切了解的信任。神期望他的兒女對他大有信心，以致再任何重要關頭，仍然站得住。但我們對神的信任往往只止於某一點，就回复禱告初階時的驚惶失措，像那些不認識神的人一樣。在走投無路時，我們表現得對神毫無信心，也不信他掌管全世界；他似乎睡了，我們只看見前面得風浪。
[你們這小信得人哪！ ]門徒是何等難過－－[又失敗了！ ]我們也會同樣難過。我們知道其實可以叫主得心歡暢快樂－－只要對他保持絕對的信心，不管前路如何。人生風平浪靜時，我們會安然的盡人的力量做到最好；但當危難一到，就立即顯出倚靠的到底是誰。我們若不斷地學習敬拜神，信靠他，那末在風浪的日子，對他的信心也同樣至死不移。我們多次的談到成聖的問題－－最終的目的是什麼呢？就是在神裡面安息，與神合一。這合一不但使我們在他眼前成為無可指摘的，更叫我們成為他的喜樂。
祈禱◆主啊，我的快樂全在乎對你的紀念，否則對你那歡愉而單純的信靠，不過是一種輕率的舉動。願你今天讓快樂四面環繞我們。
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