面對我們的恐懼Facing Our Fears
[每日靈修] 12/10/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
因著各種各樣的恐懼，我們是脆弱的凡人。我們有一種天生的不安全感，那是在黑暗中，口哨聲吹得再響都無法安撫的。對那些最讓我們感到恐懼的事情，我們總是在尋找確據。
比起其他禁令，我們的主最常發出的命令是「不要害怕」。祂經常對祂的門徒和祂所遇見的其他人說到這句話，以至於聽起來像是一句問候。大多數人是用說「嗨」或「你好」來問候別人，但耶穌的第一句話往往是「不要害怕」。
為什麼會這樣？也許耶穌偏愛這些話是源於祂敏銳地察覺到，所有接近永生上帝的人心中的恐懼。我們害怕祂的能力；我們害怕祂的憤怒；最重要的是我們害怕祂最終的拒絕。
我們最需要的確據是得救的確據。雖然我們不願意深思或默想這事，但我們知道——即使只是一種直覺——可能降臨我們的最嚴重災難是上帝要追討的最後的懲罰性的忿怒。我們確信這是我們應得，更加重了我們的不安全感。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
今日聽你上帝的話：不要害怕！
進一步研讀：
賽四一10 你不要害怕，因為我與你同在；不要驚惶，因為我是你的神。我必堅固你，我必幫助你；我必用我公義的右手扶持你。
路十二32 你們這小群，不要懼怕，因為你們的父樂意把國賜給你們。
來十三6 所以我們可以放膽說：主是幫助我的，我必不懼怕；人能把我怎麼樣呢？
Facing Our Fears
We
are fragile mortals, given to fears of every sort. We have a built-in insecurity
that no amount of whistling in the dark can mollify. We seek assurance
concerning the things that frighten us the most.
The
prohibition uttered more frequently than any other by our Lord is the command
“Fear not.” He said this so often to His disciples and others He encountered
that it almost came to sound like a greeting. Where most people greet others by
saying “Hi” or “Hello,” the first words of Jesus very often were “Fear not.”
Why?
Perhaps Jesus’ predilection for those words grew out of His acute sense of the
fear that grips all who approach the living God. We fear His power; we fear His
wrath; and most of all we fear His ultimate rejection.
The
assurance we need the most is the assurance of salvation. Though we are loath
to think much about it or contemplate it deeply, we know—if only
intuitively—that the worst catastrophe that could befall us is to be visited by
God’s final punitive wrath. Our insecurity is worsened by the certainty that we
deserve it.
Coram
Deo
Listen
to God’s Word to you today: Fear not!
Passages
for Further Study
Isaiah
41:10
Luke
12:32
Hebrews
13:6
