10月16日 主命令之钥

所以，你们当求庄稼的主打发工人出去收他的庄稼。（马太福音9：38）

宣道的钥匙在神手中，这钥匙是祷告，不是工作，更不是今天一般人以为的“工作”，因为这些可能叫人逃避，不以神为中心。宣道的钥匙不是一般常理、医疗、文化、教育，甚至不是布道工作。钥匙乃是祷告。“你们当求庄稼的主”依人来看，祷告是不切实际的，是无稽的；从常理角度来看，祷告是愚蠢的。

在主耶稣眼中，没有国族，只有全世界。我们有多少人祷告时，没有理会人，只专注于耶稣基督？因苦知罪而生的庄稼属于祂，这庄稼正是我们要求工人去收割的。四周熟透的庄稼等着收割，我们却只顾从事许多忙碌的活动，一个也不收割，在虚耗精力的事工上浪费了主的时间。假如危难临到你父亲或兄弟，你会不会为主耶稣作收庄稼的人？“啊，我另有特别的事工要做！”没有一个信徒有特别的事工要作，信徒被召归于主，他不能高于主人，也不能指挥主人，自作主张。主并没有召我们做什么特别的工作，祂只召我们归祂。“求庄稼的主”这样，祂预备环境，打发你出去。

October 16 The Key To The Master's Orders

“Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that He will send forth labourers into His harvest.” Matthew 9:38

The key to the missionary problem is in the hand of God, and that key is prayer not work, that is, not work as the word is popularly understood to-day because that may mean the evasion of concentration on God. The key to the missionary problem is not the key of common sense, nor the medical key, nor the key of civilization or education or even evangelization. The key is prayer. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest.” Naturally, prayer is not practical, it is absurd; we have to realize that prayer is stupid from the ordinary common-sense point of view.

There are no nations in Jesus Christ's outlook, but the world. How many of us pray with out respect of persons, and with respect to only one Person, Jesus Christ? He owns the harvest that is produced by distress and conviction of sin, and this is the harvest we have to pray that labourers may be thrust out to reap. We are taken up with active work while people all round are ripe to harvest, and we do not reap one of them, but waste our Lord's time in over-energized activities. Suppose the crisis comes in your father's life, in your brother’s life, are you there as a labourer to reap the harvest for Jesus Christ? “Oh, but I have a special work to do!” No Christian has a special work to do. A Christian is called to be Jesus Christ's own, one who is not above his Master, one who does not dictate to Jesus Christ what he intends to do. Our Lord calls to no special work: He calls to Himself. “Pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest,” and He will engineer circumstances and thrust you out.