倚靠應許Resting on the Promises
[每日靈修] 12/15/2018, 駱鴻銘編譯
笛卡爾走到了一個極端，只為了發現他的存在。對一般信徒來說，任何人會走到這種極端，似乎是令人驚訝的。對有意識的人來說，還有比自我意識更加不證自明的嗎？
但笛卡爾所作的，並不是傻瓜的差事。在充滿複雜懷疑主義的世界裏，他尋求的是某種確定性，這種確定性是要作為一種基礎，使他能認識更多的東西。他從自我意識的確定性進行到上帝存在的確定性，這對於深受懷疑困擾的信徒來說，不是一件小事。笛卡爾和其他像他一樣的人都明白，在確認聖經的可靠性，和基督位格的誕生與工作之前，必須先證明上帝的存在。
我們所能擁有的最重要的確定性是上帝存在的基本確定性。正是這件事促使愛德華茲（Jonathan Edwards）宣稱：「沒有什麼比這更確定的，就是必須有一個非受造的、無限的存有。」
在這個確定性的基礎上，我們有這位非受造、無限存有者的應許。我們的信心乃是建立在這些應許之上。懷疑對笛卡爾來說很有用，但愛德華茲知道，最終，懷疑那不容懷疑的，是很可疑的。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
回應那患抽風病的男孩的父親的吶喊：「主啊！我信！但我信不足，求主幫助。」（可九24）
進一步研讀：
彼後一4 因此，祂已將又寶貴又極大的應許賜給我們，叫我們既脫離世上從情慾來的敗壞，就得與神的性情有分。
林後一20 神的應許，不論有多少，在基督都是是的。所以藉著祂也都是實在（實在：原文作阿們）的，叫神因我們得榮耀。
林後七1 親愛的弟兄啊，我們既有這等應許，就當潔淨自己，除去身體、靈魂一切的污穢，敬畏神，得以成聖。
Resting
on the Promises
It
seems astonishing to the layperson that anybody would go to the extremes René
Descartes went to simply to discover that he existed. What could be more
self-evident to a conscious being than one’s own self-consciousness?
But
Descartes was not on a fool’s errand. In a world of sophisticated skepticism,
he sought certainty for something that could serve as a foundation for much,
much more. He moved from the certitude of self-consciousness to the certitude
of the existence of God, no small matter for the doubt-ridden believer.
Descartes and others like him understood that to prove the existence of God is
prior to affirming the trustworthiness of Scripture and the birth and work of
the person of Christ.
The
most important certainty we can ever have is the foundational certainty of the
existence of God. It was this matter that prompted Jonathan Edwards to declare,
“Nothing is more certain than that there must be an unmade and unlimited being”
On
this bedrock of certainty rest the promises of that unmade, unlimited Being. On
these promises we rest our faith. Doubting served Descartes well, but Edwards
knew that, ultimately, it is dubious to doubt the indubitable.
Coram
Deo
Echo
the father of the epileptic boy’s cry: “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief.”
Passages
for Further Study
2
Peter 1:4
2
Corinthians 1:20
2
Corinthians 7:1