QT 17/03/2025 Mon. Isaiah 26. Perfect peace in a torrent world. 在激流世界中寻找完美和平.
QT 17/03/2025 Mon. Isaiah 26. The plan for perfect peace.
READ http://www.esvbible.org/isaiah26
Isaiah 26:3–4
[3] You keep him in perfect peace
whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you.
[4] Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock. (ESV)
We see the song of thanksgiving in 26:1–6 where readers were encouraged to focus their minds on God so that they would be kept in perfect peace in the torrent world. The reason for having this attitude is because God is an everlasting rock, the God who kept His promises to His people.
The further reason for doing so was the contrast of their endings—the wicked would experience nothing less than severe discipline, destructions and death (26:7–15). Meanwhile, those faithful to God were to "wait" for Him (26:8) and "seek" Him (26:9) even while living in the present, where pain and suffering are not totally eliminated.
Focusing on the LORD requires us to admit our helplessness in our troubles, just like the analogy of pointing to the futility thereof—suffering the pains of pregnancy, yet giving birth to wind (26:16–19). Looking inwards has less hope than looking outwards to the LORD.
The prophet invited readers to "come, my people" to focus on God because God would act to right all wrongs and reward all right actions of His followers (26:20–21).
REFLECTION: Focusing our minds not only on the present but also to the future helps us to grasp in a better way the pains of the present, real yet painful. The future made known by the prophet is to be trusted because he did not attempt to hide the present sufferings but acknowledged their reality.
QT 17/03/2025 星期一. 以赛亚书 26 在激流世界中寻找完美和平.
阅读 http://m.bbintl.org/bible/ncv/isa/26
在 1990 年的青年团契，我们有推行《导航会》的60节系统背经计划。其中有一节经文是26:3节。
以赛亚书 26：3-4 专心倚靠你的，你必保护他一切平安，因为他倚靠你。4 你们要倚靠耶和华，直到永远，因为耶和华是永存的磐石。
我们在 26:1-6 中看到了这首感恩之歌，其中鼓励读者将心思集中在上帝身上，这样他们就能在激流世界中保持完全的平安。之所以要有这种态度，是因为上帝是永恒的磐石，是信守对子民承诺的上帝。
这样做的另一个原因是他们结局的对比--恶人将经历严厉的管教、毁灭和死亡（26：7-15）。与此同时，那些忠于神的人要 “等候” 祂（26：8）和 “寻求” 祂（26：9），即使是活在当下，痛苦和苦难也不会完全消失。
关注耶和华要求我们承认自己在困境中的无助，就像指出其中的徒劳--忍受怀孕的痛苦，却生出的就 “像风”（26：16-19）。向内看不如向外看更有希望。
先知邀请读者 “我的子民哪！快来”，将注意力集中在上帝身上，因为上帝会采取行动纠正所有的错误，赏赐所有忠心又行的正的跟随者（26：20-21）。
反思：我们不仅要关注现在，还要关注未来，这有助于我们更好地处理现在的痛苦，那真实而又痛苦。先知所预言的未来是值得信赖的，因为他并没有试图掩盖现在的痛苦，而是承认了它们的真实性。
