8月29日 无比的亲密

我不是对你说过，你若信，就必看见神的荣耀吗？（约十一40）

每次你凭信心出去闯荡，总会发觉在常理的环境下，有些事物是完全违反你的信心的。常理并不是信心，信心也不是常理，二者的关系就是天然生命与属灵生命之间的关系。当理性叫你不能信靠主，你仍能坚信他吗？当生活中的事实高呼这是“谎话”，你能否依然信靠主的话勇往直前？在山上很容易说：“我相信神会成就。”但你必须下到鬼附的山谷去，面对讽刺的现实－－对你山上变像信念当面讥讽的现实。每次在我清楚自己有信心时，就必遇到与信心互相抵触的事情。我若说相信神会供给我需用的一切，然后不名一文，又没有出路，那我能否通得过这信心的考验？还是会倒退？

信心必须受试验，只有经过争战，信心才能成为你个人的产业。你的信心如今遇何试炼？这试炼或证明你的信心正确，或会置之于死地。“凡不因我跌倒的，就有福了。”最终的目标是对主的信靠。坚定信靠他，一切反对的事物只会更坚定你的信心。信心的生活要不断经历考验，而最后最大的考验，就是死。求神保守我们常装备好去作战：信心是对神说不出来的信任，绝不去想神不支持我们。

祈祷◆噢，我惊讶自己竟那么迟缓去发出赞美；愿你使我快速而正确地赞美你。愿你赐给我适当的感觉，强烈地认知到你的美善，以致我能使你的内心充满喜乐满足。

August 29 Sublime Intimacy

“Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” John 11:40

Every time you venture out in the life of faith, you will find something in your common-sense circumstances that flatly contradicts your faith. Common sense is not faith, and faith is not common sense; they stand in the relation of the natural and the spiritual. Can you trust Jesus Christ where your common sense cannot trust Him? Can you venture heroically on Jesus Christ's statements when the facts of your common-sense life shout – “It's a lie?” On the mount it is easy to say – ‘Oh, yes, I believe God can do it’; but you have to come down into the demon-possessed valley and meet with facts that laugh ironically at the whole of your mount-of-transfiguration belief. Every time my programme of belief is clear to my own mind, I come across something that contradicts it. Let me say I believe God will supply all my need, and then let me run dry, with no outlook, and see whether I will go through the trial of faith, or whether I will sink back to something lower.

Faith must be tested, because it can be turned into a personal possession only through conflict. What is your faith up against just now? The test will either prove that your faith is right, or it will kill it. “Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in Me.” The final thing is confidence in Jesus. Believe steadfastly on Him and all you come up against will develop your faith. There is continual testing in the life of faith, and the last great test is death. May God keep us in fighting trim! Faith is unutterable trust in God, trust which never dreams that He will not stand by us.