一月十九日
我寻找他，却寻不见。（歌3:1）
告诉我，你在什么地方失去了你的伴侣基督，我就告诉你应该在什么地方可以找到他。你是在秘室中因不祷告而失去了基督吗？那末你便到那里去找，就可以找到他。你是因犯罪而失去了基督吗？那末你除了放弃你的罪，让圣灵制服你心中的肉欲之外，就不能找到基督。你是因忽略读经而失去了基督吗？那末你必可在圣书中找到基督。谚语说：“物落何处，何处寻之，必可得见。”你在什么地方失去了基督，就到什么地方去找，因为他还没有远离。但是回到原地找基督是一件难事。本仁ž约翰告诉我们说：基督徒回到休息的亭子里去找他遗失了的公文，那是他最难走的一段路。往前走二十里路比为找寻失物再退回一里路还要容易呢！要留意，当你找到你的主的时候，你要紧紧追随他。但为什么会失去了他呢？别人认为你绝不应该离弃这样一位宝贵的朋友，有他同在是多么甜蜜，他的话是多么有安慰，他的友谊是多么贵重！你若不时时目不转睛地望着他，就有失去他的危险的。而当你任令他去了之后，就是你哀声地说：“噢，我知道我在那里可以找到他！”你去寻找他的情形是多么可怜呢？继续地寻找吧，因为没有主是一件危险的事。你若没有基督就像羊没有牧人一样，像树根没有水分一样，像一片枯萎的叶子任凭风暴吹打——不再在有生命的树上了。要全心寻找他，他就会被你所寻见：你只要完全把自己献上来寻找他，你就一定可以欢喜快乐地发现他。
January
19
“I
sought him, but I found him not.” –Song of Solomon 3:1
Tell me where you lost the company of
Christ, and I will tell you the most likely place to find Him. Have you lost
Christ in the closet by restraining prayer? Then it is there you must seek and
find Him. Did you lose Christ by sin? You will find Christ in no other way but
by the giving up of the sin, and seeking by the Holy Spirit to mortify the
member in which the lust doth dwell. Did you lose Christ by neglecting the
Scriptures? You must find Christ in the Scriptures. It is a true proverb,
“Look for a thing where you dropped it, it is there.” So look for
Christ where you lost Him, for He has not gone away. But it is hard work to go
back for Christ. Bunyan tells us, the pilgrim found the piece of the road back
to the Arbour of Ease, where he lost his roll, the hardest he had ever
travelled. Twenty miles onward is easier than to go one mile back for the lost
evidence.
Take care, then, when you find your Master, to cling close to Him. But
how is it you have lost Him? One would have thought you would never have parted
with such a precious friend, whose presence is so sweet, whose words are so
comforting, and whose company is so dear to you! How is it that you did not
watch Him every moment for fear of losing sight of Him? Yet, since you have let
Him go, what a mercy that you are seeking Him, even though you mournfully
groan, “O that I knew where I might find Him!” Go on seeking, for it
is dangerous to be without thy Lord. Without Christ you are like a sheep
without its shepherd; like a tree without water at its roots; like a sere leaf
in the tempest–not bound to the tree of life. With thine whole heart seek Him,
and He will be found of thee: only give thyself thoroughly up to the search,
and verily, thou shalt yet discover Him to thy joy and gladness.
