Saturday, 27th June 2020

IN GOD WE TRUST

By Pastor Soong Kok Kee

Psalm 56: 3-4
When I am afraid, I will trust in you. In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust; I will not be afraid. What can mortal man do to me?

In the comic strip Peanuts, Lucy has just broken the news to Linus that children cannot live at home forever with their parents. Eventually they will grow up and move away. Then she says that when he leaves she will get his room. But Linus quickly reminds her that at some time she too would have to leave home. When this realisation hits Lucy, she is shocked, but she quickly comes up with a solution. She turns the TV up loud, crawls into her beanbag chair with a bowl of ice cream, and refuses to think about it.

That won’t solve the problem of course. Running away to hide, refusing to think about them, avoiding them at all cost, but life’s realities, unpleasant circumstances, dangers, trials and struggles have a way of dogging our footsteps and eventually catching up with us. Instead, we should face up to our problems like David.

Psalm 56 is David’s prayer for help when attacked by his enemies and when his life was in grave danger. After running from the hands of Saul, he now foolishly falls into the hands of the Philistines (1 Sam 21:10-15). He didn’t try to minimise his danger, he acknowledged the storm that was raging around him and looked to the Lord, his shield and refuge and said “In God I trust; I will not be afraid”. (Psalm 56: 4 & 11).

Everyone in the world has been affected in one way or another by the coronavirus pandemic. A Christian brother who sells his famous Laksa in Seremban told me his business has been cut by 90%. With that, he can’t even pay the rental of his shop, let alone the employees salaries.

Pay cuts, unemployment, bills, instalments, credit card payments – no one has faced such uncertainty since World War 2, one article said. One economist has said that our economy won’t be good for the next two to three years, and our current political situation is helping to worsen it further. Where do we run to and who can we trust?

Like David we should say, in God we trust and because of that we will not be afraid, no matter what happens. Always remember my dear brothers and sisters, if we put our trust in God, God will be responsible; if we put our trust in ourselves, then we alone will be responsible. Romans 8:31 once again reminds us “If God is for us, who can be against us?”

PRAYER: Dear Lord, in times like this, with so many uncertainties in so many areas of our lives and in the world, we can only run to you and you alone. Although we do not know why you have allowed this to happen, but we trust your ways, which are higher than our ways and your thoughts are higher than our thoughts (Isa 55:9). Continue to keep all of us and our families safe and healthy, and bless us spiritually, physically and materially for we know you are our Jehovah Jireh, the God who cares and provides. In Jesus most previous name we pray AMEN.

每日灵粮
星期六, 2020年6月27日
我们倚靠上帝
作者：宋国基牧师
翻译：梁玉萍姐妹

诗篇56：3-4
我惧怕的时候要倚靠你。我倚靠神，我要赞美他的话。我倚靠神，必不惧怕，血气之辈能把我怎么样呢？

在连环漫画《花生》中，露西刚刚向奈勒斯透露了一个消息，说孩子们不能永远和父母住在家里。最终，他们会长大、离开。然后她说，他离开后，她会得到他的房间。但是奈勒斯很快地提醒她，在某个时候她也得离家。当露西意识到这一点时，她感到震惊，但也很快想出了一个解决方案。她把电视的声量调高，拿着一碗冰淇淋爬进她的豆袋椅，并拒绝去想这件事。

这当然不能解决问题。逃跑躲藏，拒绝思考问题，不惜代价避开它们，然而 ，生活的现实、不愉快的环境、危险、考验和斗争却总有办法拖拉我们的脚步，并最终赶上我们。反而，我们应该像大卫那样正视我们的问题。

诗篇56是大卫在遭到敌人攻击和生命处于严重危险之中时求帮助的祷告。从扫罗手中逃跑后，他现在愚蠢地落入非利士人的手中（参撒母耳记上21：10-15）。他没有试图减少他的危险。他承认风暴肆虐，并仰望主他的盾牌和避难所: ”我倚靠神，必不惧怕“（参诗篇56：4和11）。

世人都在某方面受到冠状病毒大流行的影响。 一位在芙蓉卖着名叻沙的基督徒弟兄告诉我，他的生意已经削减了90%。 因此，他无法支付商店的租金，更不用说员工的工资了。

根据一篇文章，自二战以来，对于削减工资、失业、账单、分期付款、信用卡付款，没有人面临过这样的不确定性。 一位经济学家表示，我们的经济在未来两到三年内不会好转，而我们目前的政治局势正进一步恶化。我们该跑到哪里，我们可以倚靠谁呢？

就像大卫，我们应该说，我们倚靠上帝，因此无论发生什么事情，我们都不会害怕。 永远记住，我亲爱的弟兄姐妹，如果我们倚靠上帝，上帝将负责； 如果我们倚靠自己，那么我们将独自负责。 罗马书8:31再次提醒我们：“上帝若帮助我们 ，谁能敌挡我们呢 ？”

今日祷告：亲爱的上帝，在如此时刻，当我们生活和世界的各个层面都有许多的不确定，我们只能奔向你。 尽管我们不知道你为何允许这种情况发生，我们仍然相信你的道路高过我们的道路；你的意念高过我们的意念 （赛55：9）。 继续保守我们以及我们的家人的安全和健康，并在灵性、身体和物质上祝福我们，因为我们知道你是我们的耶和华以勒，是关心和供应我们的上帝。 我们是奉耶稣宝贵的圣名祷告，阿门。