1月1日
你们要过去得为业的那地,乃是有山、有谷、雨水滋润之地。是耶和华你神所眷顾的,从岁首到年终,耶和华你神的眼目时常看顾那地。(申11:11—12)
亲爱的朋友,今天,我们站在一个新的起点上,前途茫茫。摆在我们面前的是新的一年,等待我们度过。谁也不能预知在将来的路程中各人有什么遭遇、变迁和需要。可是在这里有一段从父神那里来的信息,它颇能安慰、激励我们——“耶和华你神的眷顾从岁首到年终,耶和华你神的眼目时常看顾那地。”
我们所有的需要都可仰赖于神。他那里有不干的活泉、永流的江河。他那里有恩典的誓约。只要他做我们供给的源头,就没有什么能使我们失望。没有酷热、干旱,能叫那一道“使神的城欢喜”(诗46:4)的河干涸。
我们要得以为业的那地乃是有山有谷之地。既不全是平地,也不全是下坡。若是我们前面的生活只是平淡单调,何等乏味!我们需要有山和有谷。山使雨水汇集谷中,使地肥沃多结果子。山对于我们的生命也是这样。山一般的困难,原是催使我们到施恩座前去得主赐福的甘霖;我们所厌烦的山境,反使我们得福。多少人由于厌烦山谷里的辛苦,贪恋平地的舒服,因此受到风霜的摧残,倒毙于山下的平地,埋葬于金黄色的沙中。神的山是他子民的保障!
我们不能说前面没有损失、忧虑、试炼。我们只有信靠神。父神必从今日起伸出他大能的手来扶持我们,走那当走的路。所以我们的新年是一个快乐、有福的新年!
January 1
The land whither ye go to possess it is a land of hills and
valleys and drinketh water of the rain of heaven: a land which the
Lord thy God careth for: the eyes of the Lord are always upon it,
from the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.Deut.
11:11, 12
Today, dear friends we stand upon the verge of the unknown. There
lies before us the new year and we are going forth to possess it.
Who can tell what we shall find? What new experiences, what changes
shall come, what new needs shall arise? But here is the cheering,
comforting, gladdening message from our Heavenly Father, “The Lord
thy God careth for it.” “His eyes are upon it away to the ending of
the year.”
All our supply is to come from the Lord. Here are springs that
shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be
cut off. Here, anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly
Father. If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us.
No heat, no drought can parch that river, “the streams whereof make
glad the city of God.”
The land is a land of hills and valleys. It is not all smooth nor
all down hill. If life were all one dead level the dull sameness
would oppress us; we want the hills and the valleys. The hills
collect the rain for a hundred fruitful valleys. Ah, so it is with
us! It is the hill difficulty that drives us to the throne of grace
and brings down the shower of blessing; the hills, the bleak hills
of life that we wonder at and perhaps grumble at, bring down the
shower. How many have perished in the wilderness, buried under its
golden sands, who would have lived and thriven in the hill-country;
how many would have been killed by the frost, blighted with winds,
swept desolate of tree and fruit but for the hill-stern, hard,
rugged, so steep to climb. God’s hills are a gracious protection
for His people against their foes!
We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust
only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way
today. It shall be a good, a blessed new year!
……