双语灵修（葛培理牧师）：12月31日 着眼未来

12月31日

着眼未来

耶和华阿，你的话安定在天，直到永远。

诗篇119:89

当基督徒手持圣经审视这个世界时，他知道我们所敬拜的不是一位虚无的上帝。他知道上帝就在历史的隐密处，祂有自己的计划。基督徒不应当被每天报纸上充斥的混乱、暴力、冲突、流血和战争的威胁所困扰。我们知道这些都是人罪恶和贪婪的结果。如若不然，我们倒要怀疑圣经了。但我们每天所看到的，是无数圣经预言应验的证据。我每天读报的时候都会说：“圣经是真实的。”

无论将来有多么可怕，基督徒都知道历史的结局。我们正走向一个荣耀的高潮。新约圣经的每一位作者都相信“最好的还在后头”。

正如约翰·贝利所说：“圣经表明，未来掌握在上帝手中。如果未来掌握在我们手中，我们会把它搞得一团糟。未来并不掌握在魔鬼手中，否则牠将把我们引向灭亡。未来也不受任何历史决定论的摆布，那会引导我们盲目前行，生活将毫无意义。未来掌握在那一位手中，祂所预备的是比眼睛所见、耳朵所闻、人心所想更美好的事。

诗篇作者说：“耶和华是我的亮光，是我的拯救；我还怕谁呢？耶和华是我性命的保障；我还惧谁呢？”（诗篇27:1）。

今日祷告：

天父，求祢赐给我们胆略，迈向未来。愿祢的国降临，愿祢的荣耀掌权直到永远；奉耶稣的名，阿们。

December 31

FOCUS ON THE FUTURE

For ever, O God, thy word is settled in heaven. Psalm 119:89

As the Christian with the Bible in his hand surveys the world scene, he is aware that we do not worship an absentee God. He is aware that God is in the shadows of history and that He has a plan. The Christian is not to be disturbed by the chaos, violence, strife, bloodshed, and threat of war that fill the pages of our daily newspapers. We know that these things are the consequences of man’s sin and greed. If anything else were happening, we would doubt the Bible. Every day we see a thousand evidences of the fulfillment of biblical prophecy. Every day as I read my newspaper I say,“The Bible is true.”

No matter how foreboding the future, the Christian knows the end of the story of history. We are heading toward a glorious climax. Every writer of the New Testament believes that“the best is yet to be.”

As John Baillie has said,“The Bible indicates that the future is in God’s hands. If it were in our hands, we would make a mess of it. The future is not in the devil’s hands, for then he would lead us to destruction. The future is not at the mercy of any historical determinism leading us blindly forward, for then life would be without meaning. But the future is in the hands of One who is preparing something better than eye hath seen, or ear heard, or has entered into the heart of man to conceive.”

The psalmist said,“The Lord is my light and my salvation, whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”(Psalm 27:1).

Pray for the Day:

Father, give us courage as we move into the future. And let Your Kingdom come and Your glory reign forever; in Jesus’Name, Amen.