May 14

"In the selfsame day, as God had said unto him." (Gen. 17:23)

Instant obedience¹ is the only kind of obedience there is; delayed obedience is disobedience. Every time God calls us to any duty, He is offering to make a covenant² with us; doing the duty is our part, and He will do His part in special blessing³.

The only way we can obey is to obey "in the selfsame day," as Abraham did. To be sure, we often postpone⁴ a duty and then later on do it as fully⁵ as we can. It is better to do this than not to do it at all. But it is then, at the best, only a crippled, disfigured, half-way sort of duty-doing; and a postponed⁶ duty never can bring the full blessing that God intended, and that it would have brought if done at the earliest possible moment.

It is a pity to rob ourselves, along with robbing God and others, by procrastination⁷. "In the selfsame day" is the Genesis way of saying, "Do it now." --Messages for the Morning Watch.

Luther says that "a true believer will crucify the question, 'Why?' He will obey without questioning." I will not be one of those who, except they see signs and wonders, will in no wise believe. I will obey without questioning.

"Ours not to make reply,

Ours not to reason why,

Ours but to do and die."

Obedience is the fruit of faith; patience, the bloom on the fruit. --Christina Rossetti.

　 五月十四日

“正当那日……遵着神的命”（创十七：23）。

　　立刻的顺服是唯一的顺服；延宕的顺服是不顺服。每次神给我们一个命令，他同时给我们一个应许；顺服他的命令是我们的事，成就他的应许是他的事。

　　不顺服则已，要顺服就当在“正当那日”，象亚伯拉罕一样。可是我们常先要看神的命令是否容易，是否合乎自己的喜好，是否合乎群众的心理…考虑再叁，然后再顺服。我们以为这样比不顺服总好。但是，你要知道，延宕的顺服决不能叫你得到神所预备给你的完全的祝福。若要不折不扣得到他所应许的福祉，除非立刻顺服。

　　延宕是剥夺了自己从神那里赐下的机会，经文说：“正当那日”，换一句话说，就是立刻去做。

　　马丁路得说：一个真肯顺服的信徒已经把他的“为什么”钉死了。他的顺服是无疑问的顺服。看见了迹象才信的人不是最智慧的人，我要不问原由而服从。

我们不问原由，

也不作答案的寻求，

立刻去执行，至死不休。

　　顺服是信心的果子，忍耐是果子的彩色。——罗赛弟

1 obedience   

n.服从，顺从

参考例句：

• Society has a right to expect obedience of the law.社会有权要求人人遵守法律。
• Soldiers act in obedience to the orders of their superior officers.士兵们遵照上级军官的命令行动。

2 covenant   

n.盟约，契约；v.订盟约

参考例句：

• They refused to covenant with my father for the property.他们不愿与我父亲订立财产契约。
• The money was given to us by deed of covenant.这笔钱是根据契约书付给我们的。

3 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

4 postpone   

v.延期，推迟

参考例句：

• I shall postpone making a decision till I learn full particulars.在未获悉详情之前我得从缓作出决定。
• She decided to postpone the converastion for that evening.她决定当天晚上把谈话搁一搁。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 postponed   

vt.& vi.延期，缓办，（使）延迟vt.把…放在次要地位；[语]把…放在后面（或句尾）vi.（疟疾等）延缓发作（或复发）

参考例句：

• The trial was postponed indefinitely. 审讯无限期延迟。
• The game has already been postponed three times. 这场比赛已经三度延期了。

7 procrastination   

n.拖延，耽搁

参考例句：

• Procrastination is the father of failure. 因循是失败的根源。
• Procrastination is the thief of time. 拖延就是浪费时间。