15 Feb 2018, Gen 16 创16章, Waiting upon the Lord 等候主

Posted on Jan 31, 2018 in Devotions, Genesis |

Scripture Reading        : Gen 16

Theme                            : Waiting upon the Lord

 

Faith and patience always go together (Heb. 6:12; James 1:1–5). Isaiah declared, “Whoever believes will not act hastily” (Isa. 28:16). We must trust God not only for His plan but also for His timing. Before He could send the promised son, God had to wait until Abram and Sarai were as good as dead (Rom. 4:19–21; Heb. 11:11–12). Sarai leaned on human understanding instead of God’s promises (Prov. 3:5–6). She trusted a woman from Egypt instead of the God of heaven.

Sarai was not a strong believer, but she was a capable blamer. She blamed God for her barrenness, then blamed Abram when Hagar created problems in the home. The wisdom from God is pure and peaceable, but the wisdom of the flesh is always divisive (James 3:13–1). Abram abdicated his spiritual leadership in the home, and the result was confusion.

When we walk by sight and not by faith, we get impatient; we scheme and blame others. Then when things go wrong, we try to get rid of our mistakes. God sent Hagar and Ishmael back to Abram and Sarai, and they had to live with their mistake for at least another seventeen years.

Abram and Sarai greatly wronged Hagar, and they suffered for it; but God stepped in and cared for her and her son. Abram obeyed God and gave the appointed name to his son: “Ishmael—God shall hear.” Had Abram and Sarai waited on God instead of running ahead of God, they would have avoided all that pain.[1]

 

Praying the Scripture

  1. One of the hardest things in spiritual pursuit is waiting upon the Lord. The Lord is never late and he knows when the best time is. Our problem is we can’t wait. We want it and we want it NOW. Let’s pray that we’ll not only trust God but also His timing.
  1. Proverb says, “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding. (3:5) How did Sarai lean on her own understanding instead of trusting God? After she waited for a long time, she ran out of patience. Instead she “helped” God by her own scheming. She gave her servant Hagar to Abraham and let her bear him a child. Her action not only brought problems to her family but contributed to the mess we face today in the world. How great a mess can be created by a person’s impatience! Let’s pray that we submit to God and wait upon Him.
  1. Although Hagar was ill-treated yet the Lord wanted her to return to Sarai and submit to her. Interestingly, although Hagar has no clue why must it be so, she obeyed. There are times we have no clue why things happen the way they do, pray that we’ll just trust God’s goodness and obey His Word (Bible).

[1] Warren W. Wiersbe, With the Word Bible Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1991), Ge 16:1.

 
 
 
 

经文：创16章

主题：等候主

 

信心和忍耐总是要并肩而行。（希6:12；雅1:1-5）以赛亚宣告说：“信靠的人必不着急” 。（赛28:16）我们不仅必须相信神的计划，也必须相信祂的时机。神在实现祂给亚伯兰的应许之前，神不得不等到亚伯兰和撒莱如同死了一样。（罗4:19-21，希11:11-12）撒莱靠自己的智慧，而不是依靠神的应许。（箴3:5-6）她愿意相信一位来自埃及的女人，也不相信天上的神。

撒莱不是一个坚强的信徒，而是善于责怪他人的信徒。她指责神使她不能生育，然后又为夏甲的问题指责亚伯兰。从神而来的智慧是清洁、和平的，但是人的智慧却导致分争。（雅3:13-18）亚伯兰放弃自己在家里属灵领袖的责任，其结果就是家庭混乱。

当我们凭眼所见而不是凭信心时，我们就会开始感到不耐烦；我们为自己谋算并指责别人。当事情出差错的时候，我们就试图想要摆脱责任。神让夏甲和以实玛利回到亚伯兰和撒莱身边，他们两还有至少17年的时间继续面对自己所犯下的错误。

亚伯兰和撒莱令夏甲受到极大的委屈，而他们自己也因此受苦；但神却介入并照顾夏甲和她的儿子。亚伯兰听从神的话，为自己的儿子取名为：“以实玛利神 – 神必听见”。如果亚伯兰和撒莱愿意等候神，而不跑在神前头，他们也就无需承受这些痛苦了。


用经文祷告

  1. 在属灵追求上，其中一件最难的事就是等候主。主从来不迟到，祂知道几时是最佳的时机。我们的问题是，我们等不及。我们要，而且现在就要。让我们祈祷，我们不仅相信神，也相信祂的时间。
  1. 箴言说：“你要专心仰赖耶和华，不可倚靠自己的聪明。”（箴3:5）撒莱如何倚靠自己的聪明，而不仰赖神的呢？她已等了一段很长时间，所以失去了耐心。她靠自己的计划来“帮助”神。她把仆人夏甲给亚伯拉罕为妾，让她为亚伯拉罕生个孩子。她的行为不仅带給自己的家庭问题，也导致了现今世上许多的问题。一个人的急躁竟然可以造成这么大的一个问题啊！让我们祷告，我们能顺服神并等待祂。
  1. 虽然夏甲遭到撒莱的虐待，但主要她回到撒莱身边并顺服她。重要的是夏甲并不知道神为什么要她这么做，但她还是听从神的话。很多时候，我们并不了解为什么事情必须这样发生，但让我们祷告，我们单单相信神的美善和顺服祂的话语（圣经）。