「當夜耶和華向他顯現。」(聖經創世紀二十六章 24 節)
以撒上別士巴去,當夜耶和華向他顯現。你想這個顯現是偶然的麼?你想「當夜」也是碰巧的麼?你想神儘可以在其他的夜晚顯現麼?如果你這樣想,你是絕對錯誤了。
為什麼神在以撒到別士巴的那一夜向他顯現呢?因為那一夜以撒進入了安息。在原有之地,他為了幾口井起了幾次的爭鬧,他的心很紛亂、很痛苦。雖然爭鬧過去了,可是難保那地的居民以後無事。
他覺悟,決意離開那爭鬧之地,上別士巴去,另換一個環境。那裡他把所有的爭鬧拋開了,得了安息。當夜耶和華向他顯現。神的啟示只臨到靈裡沒有風波的人,以撒在靈的安息裡聽見神的話語,那安靜的夜也就是多星的夜。
我的心哪,你可記得「你們要鎮靜,並要知道……」(聖經詩篇四十六篇 10 節 英文聖經直譯)你心裡紛亂的時侯,不能聽見神給你的禱告的答應。
多少時侯,我們禱告了很久,可是還沒有得到神的答應,都因為心有雷轟、地震、風波、炸裂。可是當你的心靜下來,進入了安息,神的答應就來了。
哦,我的心哪,你必須安息,不要為了爭鬧、紛亂、掛慮....而顯得緊張。那麼,當夜耶和華會向你顯現。洪水退落的時侯,發現了虹霓;照樣,當你鎮靜的時侯,也會聽見神的聲音。── 馬得勝 (Geo. Matheson)
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"And the Lord appeared unto Isaac the same night." (Gen. 26:24.)
Appeared the same night, " the night on which he went to Beer-sheba. Do you think this revelation was an accident? Do you think the time of it was an accident? Do you think it could have happened on any other night as well as this? If so, you are grievously mistaken.
Why did it come to Isaac in the night on which he reached Beer-sheba? Because that was the night on which he reached rest. In his old locality, he had been tormented. There had been a whole series of petty quarrels about the possession of paltry wells. There are no worries like little worries, particularly if there is an accumulation of them. Isaac felt this. Even after the strife was past, the place retained a disagreeable association.
He determined to leave. He sought change of scene. He pitched his tent away from the place of former strife. That very night the revelation came. God spoke when there was no inward storm. He could not speak when the mind was fretted; His voice demands the silence of the soul. Only in the hush of the spirit could Isaac hear the garments of his God sweep by. His still night was his starry night.
My soul, hast thou pondered these words. "Be still, and know"? In the hour of perturbation, thou canst not hear the answer to thy prayers.
How often has the answer seemed to come long after! The heart got no response in the moment of its crying -- in its thunder, its earthquake, and its fire. But when the crying ceased, when the stillness fell, when thy hand desisted from knocking on the iron gate, when the interest o other lives broke the tragedy of thine own, then appeared the long-delayed reply.
Thou must rest, O soul, if thou wouldst have thy heart's desire. Still the beating of thy pulse of personal care. Hide thy tempest of individual trouble behind the altar of a common tribulation and, that same night, the Lord shall appear to thee. The rainbow shall span the place of the subsiding flood, and in thy stillness thou shalt hear the everlasting music. -- George Matheson.
Tread in solitude thy pathway, Quiet heart and undismayed. Thou shalt know things strange, mysterious, Which to thee no voice has said.
While the crowd of petty hustlers Grasps at vain and paltry things, Thou wilt see a great world rising Where soft mystic music rings.
Leave the dusty road to others, Spotless keep thy soul and bright, As the radiant ocean's surface When the sun is taking flight.
--( From the German of V. Schoffel) H.F.
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