Wednesday 27 May 2020

Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. (ESV)

13 Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”— 14 yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. 15 Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” 16 As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil. (James 4:13-16)

Do you ever wonder why in James 4:13 and 16, the Bible tells us that when we talk and plan for tomorrow independently on our own, it is considered as boasting, demonstrating our arrogance which is evil? The same train of thought is also reiterated in Proverbs 27:1 “Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring”. Such exhortation is timely and true because we do not have control of tomorrow. By boasting of our future plan we fail to give the due reverence to God who is sovereign and has the absolute control over our life. That is why James says “yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and vanishes.” Proverbs 27:1b repeated the same piece of advice “for you do not know what a day may bring.” Therefore, we are considered arrogant and boastful when we brag about the things we want to do without acknowledging the fact that we actually have no control over them. Our life is always in the mercy of God’s hand. When we fail to give such recognition and reverence to God, it is boastful which is evil.

Instead, James teaches us to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” With this attitude, we give reference to God; fully acknowledging He is the Almighty God who has sovereign control over all creation and every aspect of our life. When we have that kind of awareness and acknowledgement of HIS existence and control over our lives and everything we do, we will give Him the reverent fear as we ought to. We will not take things into our hands but come to Him in prayer in every area of our life.

Years ago, an earnest Christian doctor was called to see an elderly man whom he had frequently visited before. He had shared the Gospel with his patient many times, but on each occasion, his patient would reply, “Not now, Doc. Some other time.” In this visit, the elderly man was suffering from a severe bronchial attack. The doctor examined him and after promising to get some medicine ready, he was about to say “Good-bye” when the patient’s wife asked, “Doctor, when John should start taking the medicine?”
“Well, let’s see, he is not very ill now. Suppose you begin a month from now.”
The couple looked at him in astonishment because this infection was quite serious. “Maybe a month from today? Surely you’re not serious!” said the man’s wife.
“Well, why not? Is that too soon?”
“Too soon! Why I may be dead by then!” said the patient.
“Hmm…that might be true. But remember, you really aren’t very bad yet. Still, perhaps you had better begin to take it – say, in a week.”
“Doctor,” John said in great perplexity, “I don’t mean to question your advice, but I might not live even a week in the condition I am in.”
“Well, that is true, John, but very likely you will. And the medicine will be in the house. If you find yourself getting worse, you could take some then.”
Very seriously, John said, “Doc, this is the worst illness I have ever had. To be honest with you, if I don’t get some medicine soon, I may be dead tomorrow!”
“Well, when would you propose to begin, John?”
“Well, I thought you would tell me to begin now.”
“John, begin now by all means,” said the doctor. “I only want to show you how false your own reasoning is when you keep putting off taking the medicine which the Great Physician has provided for your sin-sick soul. For years you have turned away from the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. You have said to yourself ‘next week,’ or ‘next year’ or ‘when I am ready’; any time rather than the now. And yet “now” is the only time that you can be sure of.”

Pray:

Dear Heavenly Father,
We acknowledge that all our tomorrows are in your hands. We ask that we can be useful to you today; courageous enough not to worry about tomorrow, and loyal enough not to waver in our love for you and our commitment to you.
In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

Ps. Wallace Ong

每日灵粮
27/05/20星期三
作者：王振威传道
箴言27:1不要为明日自夸、因为一日要生何事、你尚且不能知道。

13嗐、你们有话说、今天明天我们要往某城里去、在那里住一年、作买卖得利。14其实明天如何、你们还不知道。你们的生命是甚么呢．你们原来是一片云雾、出现少时就不见了。15你们只当说、主若愿意、我们就可以活着、也可以作这事、或作那事。16现今你们竟以张狂夸口．凡这样夸口都是恶的。（雅各书4:13-16）

你是否曾经想过，为什么在雅各书4:13和16中，圣经告诉我们，当我们独自为明天筹划时，其可被视为是夸口，显露了我们的张狂，而这都是邪恶的？箴言27：1也重申了同样的思路：“不要为明日自夸、因为一日要生何事、你尚且不能知道。”。这种劝告是适时且合宜的，因为我们无法掌握明天。通过夸耀我们的未来计划，我们无法把应有崇敬给予神，当知祂是至高无上的，对我们的生命有绝对的控制权。这就是为什么雅各说：“其实明天如何、你们还不知道。你们的生命是甚么呢．你们原来是一片云雾、出现少时就不见了。”箴言27：19（下）重复了同样的劝告：“因为一日要生何事、你尚且不能知道。”因此，当我们吹嘘自己想做的事情，而却不承认我们实际上无法掌控它们时，我们就是张狂的夸口。我们的生命乃是在上帝怜悯的手中。当我们不承认和敬畏上帝时，凡这样夸口都是恶的。

雅各却教导我们说：“主若愿意、我们就可以活着、也可以作这事、或作那事。”当我们抱着这种态度时，我们就是想到上帝；完全承认祂是全能的上帝，并且祂对所有的创造物和我们生命的各个层面拥有绝对的主权。若是我们对祂的存在有这样的觉醒，并知道祂掌控我们的生命及所有事情时，我们就应当敬畏祂。我们不会将事情掌握在自己手中，而会在我们生活的每个方面向祂祈祷。

好几年前，一位敬虔的基督徒医生被叫去看一个他以前经常出诊的老人。他曾多次与患者分享福音，但每次患者都会回答：“不是现在，医生。再过一段时间。”这次的出诊，这位老人严重的支气管疾病发作。医生对他进行了检查，并在准备好药物后，当他正要说“再见”时，患者的妻子问“医生，约翰什么时候应该开始服药？”
“好吧，让我们看看，他现在病得不是很严重。可能现在开始算起一个月后吧。”
这对夫妇惊讶地看着他，因为这次染病非常严重。 “可能现在开始算起一个月后？你一定是在开玩笑！”男人的妻子说。
“嗯，为什么不呢？是不是太早了呢？”
“太早了？为什么，到那时我可能已经死了！”病人说。
“嗯……那可能是真的。但是请记住，你确实还不算情况太糟糕。不过，也许你可以在一周后开始服用。”
“医生，”约翰非常困惑地说道，“我不是要质疑你的建议，但就我现在这种状况，我也可能甚至连一个星期都活不过啊。”
“好吧，确实如此，约翰，你说的是对的。我会把药放在屋子里。如果你发现自己越来越糟，那么你就可以服用一些。”
约翰非常认真地说：“医生，这是我患过的最严重的疾病。老实说，如果我不马上服药，我明天可能就死了！”
“好吧，约翰，你打算什么时候开始？”
“嗯，我以为你会告诉我现在开始。”
“约翰，无论如何一定要现在开始，”医生说。 “我只想告诉你，当你继续推迟服用“大医师”为你患病的灵魂所提供的药物时，你的理由是多么的错误。你已离弃神和救主耶稣基督多年。你对自己说“下周”，或“明年”或“当我准备好时”；任何时候，而不是现在。但是，“现在”却是唯一可以确定的时间。”

祈祷：
亲爱的天父，
我们承认，我们所有的明天都掌握在你的手中。我们恳求今天就被主所用；有足够的勇气不用担心明天，也有足够的忠诚不致动摇我们对你的爱和对你的委身。
我奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。

陈月妃译