5月7日
标 题：上去得那地为业
经 节：看哪，耶和华─你的神已将那地摆在你面前，你要照耶和华─你列祖的神所说的上去得那地为业；不要惧怕，也不要惊惶。（申命记一章21节）
基督徒的生活有一个看似矛盾的理论，就是得付出努力，才能得到神的礼物。神带领以色列人到迦南地，告诉他们祂要把这地“赐给”他们（民数记十三：2）。对以色列人而言，应许之地的礼物听起来很棒，直到他们理解到，伴随这份礼物而来的，是与巨人和坚固城邑为敌。他们也许以为进入迦南地之前，神会先为他们消灭那地的居民。对以色列人最理想的情况，是接收一片空旷的土地和房屋，让他们马上住进去。
但事情并非如他们所料，神说他们必须争战，才能夺取这地。然而，他们不必用自己的力量打仗，神会出面为他们争战。神会把城邑的高墙夷为平地，并赐他们策略打败敌人，给予战士能力争战。以色列人比起他们的敌人占了许多便宜，但是他们还是得争战。
要是在信主的那一刻，神赐给我们完全的圣经知识，又让我们背诵所有的经句，该有多么好啊！要是神每日灌入我们喜爱祷告的心，以及向人分享信心的勇气，基督徒的生活就容易多了。可是，神不是这样带领我们。祂先赐给我们救恩这免费的礼物，然后要我们恐惧战兢地“做”得救的工夫（腓立比书二：12下）。你是否灰心沮丧，因为基督徒的生活比你预计的更困难及富有挑战性？请不要如此想。神给你的礼物是最完美的，借着这些礼物，你会变得更完全（马太福音五：48；雅各书一：17）。
Go up and Possess It
Look, the LORD your God has set the land before
you; go up and possess it, as the LORD God of your fathers has spoken to you;
do not fear or be discouraged. (Deuteronomy 1:21)
One of the paradoxes of the Christian life is that
God’s gifts often require labor on our part. God brought the Israelites to the
Promised Land and told them He was going to “give” it to them (Num. 13:2). The
gift of the Promised Land sounded great to the Israelites until they realized
that, with the gift, came battles against giants and fortified cities! Perhaps
they assumed God was going to obliterate the inhabitants of the land before
they entered. Ideally for the Israelites, they could then have entered a vacant
land with houses and cities already built and ready to inhabit.
Instead, God said they would have to fight for it.
They would not have to fight in their own strength, however; God would be
present to fight for them. God would bring down the walls of cities, give them
strategies to defeat their enemies, and empower their warriors to fight. The
Israelites would have a divine advantage over anyone they fought, but they
would still have to fight.
It would be wonderful if, when we become
Christians, God would fill our minds with a complete knowledge of the Bible and
with Bible verses already memorized. It would be easy if God would instill in
us a delight in spending hours in prayer each day and a fearless desire to
share our faith with others. But God doesn’t relate to us that way. Instead, He
gives us the free gift of His salvation and then tells us to “work out” our salvation
in fear and trembling (Phil. 2:12b). Are you discouraged because the Christian
life is more difficult and challenging than you expected? Don’t be. God’s gifts
to you are perfect because, through them, God makes you perfect as well (Matt.
5:48; James 1:17).
