August 31

"Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed" (John 20:29).

How strong is the snare¹ of the things that are seen, and how necessary for God to keep us in the things that axe² unseen! If Peter is to walk on the water he must walk; if he is going to swim, he must swim, but he cannot do both. If the bird is going to fly it must keep away from fences³ and the trees, and trust to its buoyant wings. But if it tries to keep within easy reach of the ground, it will make poor work of flying.

God had to bring Abraham to the end of his own strength, and to let him see that in his own body he could do nothing. He had to consider his own body as good as dead, and then take God for the whole work; and when he looked away from himself, and trusted God alone, then he became fully⁴ persuaded that what He had promised, He was able to perform. That is what God is teaching⁵ us, and He has to keep away encouraging results until we learn to trust without them, and then He loves to make His Word real in fact as well as faith.--A.B. Simpson

I do not ask that He must prove

His Word is true to me,

And that before I can believe

He first must let me see.

It is enough for me to know

'Tis true because He says 'tis so;

On His unchanging Word I'll stand

And trust till I can understand.

-E.M.Winter

 

八月三十一日

「那没有看见就信的，有福了。」（约廿29）

眼见的事物是多么靠不住。所以，神必须保守我们在看不见的事物里，这是多么要紧的一回事！如果一只鸟儿要飞，牠必须离开墙垣和树枝，单独信赖牠的翅膀。如果牠要接近地面，牠飞行的工作就要受到亏损。

亚伯拉罕必须先看见自己的力量完了，自己不能再做甚么了，自己已经死了，然后纔肯完全让神来做；当他不看自己，单独信靠神的时候，他纔能完全相信：神所允许的，必能做成。这就是现在神所要我们学习的功课；神必须拿去一切鼓励我们的东西，直到我们能够不凭东西来信靠祂；那时候祂就要叫祂的话语成为事实。－－信宣

1 snare   

n.陷阱，诱惑，圈套；（去除息肉或者肿瘤的）勒除器；响弦，小军鼓；vt.以陷阱捕获，诱惑

参考例句：

• I used to snare small birds such as sparrows.我曾常用罗网捕捉麻雀等小鸟。
• Most of the people realized that their scheme was simply a snare and a delusion.大多数人都认识到他们的诡计不过是一个骗人的圈套。

2 axe   

n.斧子；v.用斧头砍，削减

参考例句：

• Be careful with that sharp axe.那把斧子很锋利，你要当心。
• The edge of this axe has turned.这把斧子卷了刃了。

3 fences   

n.栅栏( fence的名词复数 )；（障碍赛马中的）障碍物；买卖赃物者；击剑（术）v.围以栅栏( fence的第三人称单数 )；搪塞；支吾；回避

参考例句：

• It's a pity we didn't mend our fences with the colonel. 可惜我们还没有和上校先生调整好关系。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He fences well, as she had noticed before. 正如她以前观察到的一样，他善于周旋。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 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。

5 teaching   

n.教学，执教，任教，讲授；(复数)教诲

参考例句：

• We all agree in adopting the new teaching method. 我们一致同意采取新的教学方法。
• He created a new system of teaching foreign languages.他创造了一种新的外语教学体系。