二月二十二日
但他的弓仍旧坚硬，他的手健壮敏捷，这是因以色列的牧者，以色列的磐石，就是雅各的大能者。（创49:24）
神所给约瑟的力量是真正的力量，并非常人的幻泡虚影，旋即化为云烟的夸大之词；那是真实的，属神帮助他。为什么约瑟能在受引诱的时候站立得住呢？因为神帮助他。若我们没有神的能力什么事也就不能作。一切的力量都是从“雅各的大能者”来的，神也把这力量同样地给了约瑟。神把自己的手放在约瑟的手上，把自己的膀臂放在约瑟的膀臂上；父亲怎样教导孩子作事，神也照样教导敬畏他的人，他把自己的膀臂放在他们的膀臂之上。神这样的俯就人是多么令人惊讶呀！神是全能的，永活的，大能的，从他的宝座上屈身把自己的手放在他孩子的手上，伸出他的膀臂来放在约瑟的膀臂上，好使他健壮！这种力量也是约的力量，是从神的约而来的，因为在这里提到“雅各的大能者”，所以当你在圣经中每逢念到雅各的神时，你要记住他与雅各所立的约。基督徒喜爱想到神的约。我们所有的一切能力、一切恩惠、一切福分、一切恩怜、一切安慰、一切事都藉这约，从源头流归我们。若是没有约，我们就失败了，因为一切恩典都本于它，像光和热出自太阳一样。除了雅各所看到的上达立约之神的梯子之外，再也没有一个可以使天使上去下来的梯子了。基督徒呀！弓箭手虽可射伤你，使你痛楚不堪，但你的弓仍旧坚硬；那末，让我们把一切的荣耀归给雅各的神吧！
February 22
“His bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made
strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob.” –Genesis 49:24
That strength which God gives to His Josephs is real strength; it is not
a boasted valour, a fiction, a thing of which men talk, but which ends in
smoke; it is true–divine strength. Why does Joseph stand against temptation?
Because God gives him aid. There is nought that we can do without the power of
God. All true strength comes from “the mighty God of Jacob.” Notice
in what a blessedly familiar way God gives this strength to Joseph–“The
arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of
Jacob.” Thus God is represented as putting His hands on Joseph’s hands,
placing His arms on Joseph’s arms. Like as a father teaches his children, so
the Lord teaches them that fear Him. He puts His arms upon them. Marvellous
condescension! God Almighty, Eternal, Omnipotent, stoops from His throne and
lays His hand upon the child’s hand, stretching His arm upon the arm of Joseph,
that he may be made strong! This strength was also covenant strength, for it is
ascribed to “the mighty God of Jacob.” Now, wherever you read of the
God of Jacob in the Bible, you should remember the covenant with Jacob.
Christians love to think of God’s covenant. All the power, all the grace, all
the blessings, all the mercies, all the comforts, all the things we have, flow
to us from the well-head, through the covenant. If there were no covenant, then
we should fail indeed; for all grace proceeds from it, as light and heat from
the sun. No angels ascend or descend, save upon that ladder which Jacob saw, at
the top of which stood a covenant God. Christian, it may be that the archers
have sorely grieved you, and shot at you, and wounded you, but still your bow
abides in strength; be sure, then, to ascribe all the glory to Jacob’s God.
