5月24日 绝望中的兴奋

我一看见，就仆倒在他脚前，像死了一样。（启一17）

也许你像约翰一样，与主耶稣相知甚深。但当他突然以完全陌生的面貌出现，你只能仆倒他脚前像死去一样。有时神不能以别的办法显示他自己，就只好以他的威严显现。那异象中的威荣，叫你在绝望中心怀兴奋。那时，你要再起来，就必须捉着神的手了。

“他用右手按着我说。”在惊恐中，有人触摸你，你便晓得那是耶稣基督的右手。不是阻止、纠正或管教的右手，而是永在的父的右手。无论他的手什么时候放在你身上，总有难以形容的平安与安慰，因为知道有永远的膀臂在扶持，就得着供应、安慰与力量。神的抚摸一来，就再没有什么能叫你恐惧的了。主耶稣带着天上的荣耀，对一个微不足道的门徒说：“不要惧怕。”他的仁慈是那样的温柔，我对他有这样的认识吗？

留心那些令人绝望的事物。有一种绝望是没有喜乐、没有展望、没有曙光。可是只要我知道“在我里头，就是在我肉体之中，没有良善”，那时绝望中的喜乐就来了。在神荣耀的彰显之中，我必须谦恭俯伏。若要起来，神必亲手搀扶。除非我到了一切的尽头，否则神不能为我作什么。

祈祷◆噢，主啊，在属灵和各方面，愿你加倍地保守这圣灵的殿。赐给我们你所喜悦的光辉和明亮。

May 24 The Delight Of Despair

“And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead.” Revelation 1:17

It may be that like the apostle John you know Jesus Christ intimately, when suddenly He appears with no familiar characteristic at all, and the only thing you can do is to fall at His feet as dead. There are times when God cannot reveal Himself in any other way than in His majesty, and it is the awfulness of the vision which brings you to the delight of despair; if you are ever to be raised up, it must be by the hand of God.

“He laid His right hand upon me.” In the midst of the awfulness, a touch comes, and you know it is the right hand of Jesus Christ. The right hand not of restraint nor of correction nor of chastisement, but the right hand of the Everlasting Father. Whenever His hand is laid upon you, it is ineffable peace and comfort, the sense that “underneath are the everlasting arms,” full of sustaining and comfort and strength. When once His touch comes, nothing at all can cast you into fear again. In the midst of all His ascended glory the Lord Jesus comes to speak to an insignificant disciple, and to say – “Fear not.” His tenderness is ineffably sweet. Do I know Him like that?

Watch some of the things that strike despair. There is despair in which there is no delight, no horizon, no hope of anything brighter; but the delight of despair comes when I know that “in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing.” I delight to know that there is that in me which must fall prostrate before God when He manifests Himself, and if I am ever to be raised up it must be by the hand of God. God can do nothing for me until I get to the limit of the possible.