苦難與一步一步來Sufferingand One Foot In Front of the Other
作者Shane Lems 譯者：Maria Marta
你們當中那些知道經過艱苦磨煉意味著什麽的人，也許都明白這些說話：「過一天是一天」、「我只是一步一步來」。磨煉和苦難是生活的泥沼与汙泥，它们使你懈怠，叫你跌倒，妨礙你的日常活動。一切都緩慢不前时，你只需要專注向前邁出的一步。
或許你能在一個月內設置醫院的就診記錄; 或許你努力整理醫療賬單時頭昏腦脹; 或許你祈求上帝抑制你丈夫的痛苦 (如果受苦是祂的旨意) ; 或許你懼怕下一次靜脈注射，或擔憂最近驗血的報告結果。 有時你只祈求幾小時的安睡和解脫。把握當下，過一天算一天！ 我認同提摩太•凱勒對「同上帝患難與共」的詳解：
「在苦難中與上帝同行，代表要把上帝當成是上帝來對待，將祂看作是在那𥚃，就在現場。『行走』並不戲劇性，但是有它自己的節奏——它是由穩定、重複的行動所組成，你可以恆定地維持這個行動很長一段時間。上帝在《創世記》十七章第一節並未告訴亞伯拉罕，要『在我面前翻跟鬥」或是『在我面前奔跑』，因為沒有人可以日復一日地維持這種行為。有很多人把屬靈成長想成像是高台跳水。他們說：『我將要把生命獻給主！再給我六個月的時間，我就會變成一個新的人或是新女性！』然而，行走卻不是這樣，行走是日復一日地禱告；日復一日地讀聖經和詩篇；日復一日地順服，與基督徒朋友交談，參加集體崇拜，委身並全面參與教會的生活。它是有節奏的，一而再，再而三的持續。與上帝同行是一個比喻，象徵著緩慢但穩定的進步。」
「所以，在苦難中與上帝同行意味著，一般而言，你不會經歷到從你的問題、悲傷、懼怕當中有某些即刻的解救。但是，如我們將要看到的，會有一個你得著驚喜的時候，有難以言喻、『出人意外的平安』。會有一些日子，某種新的洞見會像一束光照進一間黑屋那麼地臨到你。肯定會有進步，這是行走隱喻中的一部分，但是一般而言，它是一種緩慢而穩定的進步，只有在你堅持著行走本身那個固定而日常的活動時，才會出現。『義人的路好像黎明的光，越照越明，直到日午。』」（箴四18）
以上引述摘自《同祢患難與共》Walking with God through Pain
and Suffering，312頁, 提摩太．凱勒 (Timothy Keller) 著/趙剛譯，希望之聲出版社,2017。
Suffering and One Foot In
Front of the Other
by
Reformed Reader
For those of you who know what it means to go
through a very hard trial, you probably understand sayings like this: “One day
at a time,” and “I’m just putting one foot in front of the other.” Trials and suffering are the mud and muck of
life that slow you down, trip you up, and clog up your daily activities. Everything slows down and you just have to
focus on taking one more step ahead.
Maybe
you could set a state record for hospital visits in one month; maybe you have a
pounding headache from trying to sort out medical bills, or maybe you’re
praying that God would keep your husband’s suffering down (if it’s His will). Perhaps you’re dreading the next IV or
worrying that your recent blood test will have bad results. Sometimes you’re simply praying for a few
hours of sleep and relief. It’s just one
day at a time! I like how Tim Keller
speaks of walking with God through trials:
“Walking
with God through suffering means treating God as God and as there, as
present. Walking is something
non-dramatic, rhythmic – it consists of steady, repeated actions you can keep
up in a sustained way for a long time.
God did not tell Abraham in Genesis 17:1 to ‘somersault before me’ or
even ‘run before me’ because no one can keep such behavior up day in and day
out. There are many people who think of
spiritual growth as something like high diving.
They say, ‘I am going to give my life to the Lord! I am going to change
all these terrible habits, and I am really going to transform! Give me another
six months, and I am going to be a new man or new woman.’ That is not what a
walk is. A walk is day in and day out
obeying, talking to Christian friends, and going to corporate worship,
committing yourself to and fully participating in the life of the church. It is rhythmic, on and on and on. To walk with God is a metaphor that symbolizes
slow and steady progress.
…Walking
with God through suffering means that, in general, you will not experience some
kind of instant deliverance from your questions, your sorrow, your fears. There can be, as we shall see, times in which
you receive a surprising, in explicable ‘peace that passes understanding.’ There will be days in which some new insight
comes to you like a ray of light in a dark room. There will certainly be progress – that is
part of the metaphor of walking – but in general it will be slow and steady
progress that comes only if you stick to the regular, daily activities of the
walking itself. ‘The path of the
righteous is like the [earliest] morning sun, shining ever brighter till the
light of full day’ (Prov. 4:18).
Timothy
Keller, Walking with God through Pain and Suffering, p. 236-7.
Shane Lems
Hammond, WI