5月6日
标 题：安于奴隶的现状
经 节：就向他们说：“愿耶和华鉴察你们，施行判断；因你们使我们在法老和他臣仆面前有了臭名，把刀递在他们手中杀我们。”（出埃及记五章21节）
人可能安于奴隶的处境，一点也不想为自由付出任何努力。希伯来人作埃及人的奴隶，已有四百年之久。奴隶的身分代表他们没有自由做神要他们做的事，也没有行动自由。摩西已经告诉以色列人如何得到自由，但比起讨神的欢喜，他们更关心工头的反应。对他们来说，得到自由意味着激怒他们所事奉的法老王！也就是，他们一生所事奉的埃及人，可能会攻击他们。由奴役中被释放得到的自由，似乎不值得他们耐心忍受那不可避免的艰苦。
当神释放我们得自由时，我们通常得付出代价。哀伤可以是捆绑的另一个形式，然而，我们可能愈来愈安于奴隶的现状。我们可能安于恐惧的生活，却不晓得如何安心度日。照着毁灭性的恶习与罪恶的生活方式，我们可能比较喜欢熟悉的环境，而不愿去经历被释放后的未知。我们可能已明白地认出朋友的坏影响，却情愿拒绝神的心意，不愿得罪我们的朋友。
这个情形实在令人难以相信，以色列人居然因为摩西改变他们从小的奴隶生活，而心生不满。你是否安于被某项恶习捆绑？你是否惧怕改变多过惧怕神？你是否愿意让神在你身上动工，好能够释放你？
Comfortable in Our Bondage
And they said to them, “Let the LORD look on
you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and
in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us.”
(Exodus 5:21)
“It is possible for people to become so
accustomed to their bondage that they resist efforts to free them. The Hebrews
had been slaves in Egypt for four hundred years. Slavery meant that they were
not free to do God’s will or to go where they wanted. Moses had come to tell
the Israelites how they could experience freedom, yet they were more concerned
about the reaction of their taskmasters than they were about pleasing God. For
them to be free would mean that the pharaoh they were serving would be angry!
It would mean that the Egyptians they had served all their lives might attack
them. Freedom from their slavery did not seem to be worth the hardships they
would inevitably endure.
When God sets out to free us there will often be a
price we will have to pay. Grief can be a terrible form of bondage, yet we can
become comfortable with it. We can grow so comfortable with fear that we don’t
know how to live without it. As destructive as our sinful habits and lifestyle
might be, we may prefer living with the familiar, rather than being freed to
experience the unknown. We may recognize the harmful influence of a friend but
choose to reject God’s will rather than offend our friend.
As incredible as it seems, the Israelites were
angry at Moses for disrupting the life of slavery to which they had grown
accustomed. Have you been lulled into a comfortable relationship with your
bondage? Do you fear change more than you fear God? Are you willing to allow
God to do what is necessary in order to free you?”
