每日灵修 – 2024 年 8 月 31 日
当我们问上帝为什么
作者:Tim Dilena
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如果你有机会问上帝一个“为什么”的问题,你会问他什么?为什么这种糟糕的事情会发生在我身上?为什么我妈妈去世了?
那关于个人失败的问题呢?这就是我们在马太福音 17 章中发现的。门徒们在他们被赋予权力去做的事情上失败了,他们不知道为什么会失败。他们曾试图治愈一个年轻人的儿子,但没有成功,于是那个男人带着他的儿子来到耶稣面前。“耶稣斥责那鬼,鬼就从他身上出来了,那孩子立刻就好了。那时门徒暗暗地来到耶稣面前,说:‘我们为什么不能赶出那鬼呢?’耶稣对他们说:‘因为你们的信心小。我实在告诉你们,你们若有信心像一粒芥菜种,就是对这座山说:‘你从这边挪到那边’,它也必挪去,并且你们没有不能作的事了。’” (马太福音 17:18-20,ESV)。
我喜欢门徒提出的问题。如今人们完成任务后不会这样做。很少有人会要求批评来让自己变得更好。我们生活在一种只会责怪他人而不会自我反省的文化中。
耶稣对门徒的回答令人震惊且多层次。耶稣说,最大的问题是信仰;然后他告诉他们(和我们)什么可以启动芥菜籽大小的信仰:祈祷和禁食。跟我一起来。禁食不是为了引起上帝的注意而绝食。禁食为上帝创造了空间。在门徒的时间段内做饭不是去全食超市或好市多;这是一项需要一整天的时间,包括杀死动物并将其烹饪。禁食意味着创造空间来祈祷和聆听上帝的声音。
当一个人禁食时,他们就给了上帝更多的时间,而当你有更多的时间与上帝相处时,相信我,上帝在你的生活中会变得更重要。这就是为什么我相信你可以禁食许多不同类型的事物,而不仅仅是食物——社交媒体、电视、某些活动——并为祈祷腾出空间。
获得信仰的途径是祈祷和禁食。私人的“为什么”不仅帮助了门徒,而且在我们需要对那些无法改变的事情采取一些行动时也给了我们深刻的洞察力。
在底特律市中心教会担任牧师三十年后,蒂姆牧师在纽约市布鲁克林会堂服务了五年,并在路易斯安那州拉斐特担任牧师五年。他于 2020 年 5 月成为时代广场教会的资深牧师。
DAILY DEVOTIONAL – August 31, 2024
When We Ask God Why
By Tim Dilena
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If you had a chance to ask God a ‘why?’ question, what would you ask him? Why did this bad thing happen to me? Why did my mom pass away?
How about a personal failure question? That’s what we find in Matthew 17. The disciples failed at something they were empowered to do and did not know why they’d failed. They had tried to heal a young man’s boy and were unable, so the man brought his son to Jesus. “And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him, and the boy was healed instantly. Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, ‘Why could we not cast it out?’ He said to them, ‘Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you.’” (Matthew 17:18-20, ESV).
I love that the disciples asked their question. People don’t do this today when they finish a task. It’s rare to find someone asking for critique to get better. We live in a culture that will blame others but not inspect ourselves.
Jesus’s answer to the disciples is astounding and multi-layered. The big issue, Jesus said, is faith; then he tells them (and us) what can get mustard seed sized faith kick-started: prayer and fasting. Track with me here. Fasting is not a hunger strike to get God’s attention. Fasting creates space for God. To make a meal during the disciples’ time period was not going to Whole Foods or Costco; it was an all-day affair that involved killing an animal and cooking it. Fasting meant creating space to pray and hear from God.
When someone fasts, they are giving God more time, and when you get more time with God, trust me, God gets bigger in your life. That’s why I believe that you can fast from many different types of things and not just food — social media, television, certain activities — and create space for prayer.
The way you get a grain of faith is by praying and fasting. A private ‘why’ not only helped the disciples but also gave us great insight for when we need some movement on things that won’t budge.
After pastoring an inner-city congregation in Detroit for thirty years, Pastor Tim served at Brooklyn Tabernacle in NYC for five years and pastored in Lafayette, Louisiana, for five years. He became Senior Pastor of Times Square Church in May of 2020.