八月二十二日
耶路撒冷的衆女子啊，我嘱咐你们，若遇见我的良人，要告诉他，我因思爱成病。（歌5：8）
这是渴慕与主同在的信徒所说的话，他因思爱他的主而成病。蒙恩的人若不多亲近基督就不会完全，因爲他们若是离了他，心中就没有平安。越亲近他，便越靠近天堂的平静安稳；越亲近他，心中不单越发满了平安，而且满了生命、力量和快乐，因爲这些都是在于常常与耶稣交谈。太阳之与白昼，月亮之与黑夜，甘露之与花卉，耶稣基督与我们也是这样。饼之与饥饿，衣之与赤裸，岩石下的荫凉之与荒野倦旅的路人，耶稣基督与我们也是这样。若我们感到与他不在一起，那麽，不怪我们的心灵会说：“耶路撒冷的衆女子啊，我嘱咐你们，若遇见我的良人，要告诉他，我因思爱成病。”切心渴慕耶稣是有福的：“饥渴慕义的人有福了！”因此那渴慕这位义者的必蒙大福。饥渴的人有福了！因爲乃来自神；若我的福还没有饱足，就当倒空器皿，切心寻求直到基督完全满溢了我。若耶稣还没有使我饱足，我就当渴慕他，因我还未深入天堂的门内。这种饥渴之心是神圣的，它在主的八福中灿烂放光。但这福是带着应许的。这种饥渴“必得饱足”。若基督使我们渴慕他，他必会满足我们渴慕的心；当他来到我们心中的时候，他必定会来到的，那是多麽甜蜜呀！
“我极爱主耶稣，因主先爱我，在十字架替死，赦我衆罪恶，
我爱主，因你爲我戴荆棘冕；若我曾爱救主，如今更亲爱。”
August
22
“I
charge you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, that ye tell him,
that I am sick of love.” — Song of Solomon 5:8
Such is the language of the believer panting after present fellowship
with Jesus, he is sick for his Lord. Gracious souls are never perfectly at ease
except they are in a state of nearness to Christ; for when they are away from
Him they lose their peace. The nearer to Him, the nearer to the perfect calm of
heaven; the nearer to Him, the fuller the heart is, not only of peace, but of
life, and vigour, and joy, for these all depend on constant intercourse with
Jesus. What the sun is to the day, what the moon is to the night, what the dew
is to the flower, such is Jesus Christ to us. What bread is to the hungry,
clothing to the naked, the shadow of a great rock to the traveller in a weary
land, such is Jesus Christ to us; and, therefore, if we are not consciously one
with Him, little marvel if our spirit cries in the words of the Song, “I
charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, if ye find my beloved, tell Him that I
am sick of love.” This earnest longing after Jesus has a blessing
attending it: “Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after
righteousness”; and therefore, supremely blessed are they who thirst after
the Righteous One. Blessed is that hunger, since it comes from God: if I may
not have the full-blown blessedness of being filled, I would seek the same
blessedness in its sweet bud-pining in emptiness and eagerness till I am filled
with Christ. If I may not feed on Jesus, it shall be next door to heaven to
hunger and thirst after Him. There is a hallowedness about that hunger, since
it sparkles among the beatitudes of our Lord. But the blessing involves a
promise. Such hungry ones “shall be filled” with what they are
desiring. If Christ thus causes us to long after Himself, He will certainly
satisfy those longings; and when He does come to us, as come He will, oh, how
sweet it will be!
