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Proverbs 17 箴言 17

Tuesday, 17th October 2023

Rev Daniel Xi An Poon 潘錫安牧師

V3 “The refining pot is for silver and the furnace for gold, but the Lord tests the hearts.” V7 “Excellent speech is not becoming to a fool, much less lying lips to a prince.” God refines our hearts, because of the words we hear everyday. What are the words we are hearing everyday? Words of love? Or worries?

V3「鼎為煉銀，爐為煉金，唯有耶和華熬煉人心。」V7「愚頑人說美言本不相宜，何況君王說謊話呢？」神因我們每天所聽的話而煉淨我們的心。我們每天聽到的話語有哪些？是充滿愛的言語還是擔憂？

V22 “A merry heart does good, like medicine, but a broken spirit dries the bones.” God wants to refine our hearts, do we have a merry heart or a broken spirit? It’s so important for every follower of God. What does a merry heart mean in the Bible? Is it just being joyful? In Deuteronomy 16:15, it says, “Seven days you shall keep a sacred feast to the Lord your God in the place which the Lord chooses, because the Lord your God will bless you in all your produce and in all the work of your hands, so that you surely rejoice.” The first time the Bible mentioned joy was when people make offering in the place where God appointed, and when they keep a sacred feast to God seven days.

V22「喜樂的心乃是良藥，憂傷的靈使骨枯乾。」神要熬煉我們的心，我們是喜樂的心還是破碎的靈？這對每一個神的跟隨者來說都是非常重要的。聖經中喜樂的心是什麼意思？只是高興嗎？申命記16:15 說：「你們要在耶和華所選擇的地方，向耶和華你的神守節七日，因為耶和華你的神必在你一切的出產和你一切勞作的事上賜福與你。 雙手合十，使你們歡喜。」聖經第一次提到喜樂，是在神指定的地方獻祭，向神守聖節七日的時候。

It’s so easy for us to rejoice when things we are doing go smoothly, and we become sad when we face problems. Our lives are all about the things we are doing, completing the to do list we have in front of us. But in Deuteronomy, we learnt that we must be where God appointed us to be, He will bless the work of our hands when we follow God’s Will! All the work in our hands are not to trouble us or burden us, but to bless us, and then we can rejoice!

當事情進展順利時，我們很容易感到高興，而當我們遇到問題時，我們就感到悲傷。我們的生活就是我們正在做的事情，完成我們面前的待辦事項清單。但在申命記中，我們了解到我們必須在神指定我們去的地方，當我們遵循神的旨意時，祂會祝福我們手所做的工作！我們手裡所做的一切工作，不是為了給我們添麻煩，不是為了給我們負擔，而是為了祝福我們，讓我們充滿喜樂！

Why do we worry? Why do we live a busy life? We don’t become busy for God but for ourselves, what should we eat, what should we drink, what should we wear…? We are worried about our lives, the lives of our children, and we are worried that we are not good enough, or not achieving enough things. We don’t do these things for God, we are doing them for ourselves. We are the broken hearted, our bones are dried, and we cannot see how dry our bones are! Others also can’t see that our bones are dried, from the outside we might look glamourise but inside of us we are dried up.

我們為什麼擔心？我們為何過著忙碌的生活？我們不是為神而忙碌，而是為自己而忙碌，我們該吃什麼、喝什麼、穿什麼…？我們擔心我們的生活，我們孩子的生活，我們擔心我們不夠好，或沒有足夠的成就。我們做這些事不是為了神，而是為了自己。我們充滿憂傷的靈，我們的骨頭是枯乾的，我們看不到我們的骨頭有多枯乾！別人也看不到，因為表面上我們看起來光鮮亮麗，但內心卻是乾渴缺乏的。

We tend to rely on ourselves, we make decisions before asking God. We doubt in what God can do for us, and we seek our own strength. But from II Samuel, when king David started to seek God, everything went well for him. God’s Word is the light of our path and lamp to our feet, all we need to do is to follow. In Matthew 6, Jesus taught us how to pray and how to align with God, to ask God’s Kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven. Seek God’s Kingdom and Righteousness first.

我們傾向於依靠自己，在詢問神之前自己做出決定。我們懷疑神能為我們做什麼，所以我們就尋求自己的力量。撒母耳記下提到，當大衛王開始尋求神時，神的幫助就臨到了。神的話是我們路上的光，是我們腳前的燈，我們要做的就是遵行。在馬太福音第6章中，耶穌教導我們如何禱告，如何與神對齊，求神的國降臨在地上，如同在天上一樣。首先尋求神的國和神的義。

Matthew 6:24 says, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” The prayer to fully commit is to ask God’s Will be done instead of ours. We worship the world instead of worshipping God, mammon is not about our wealth but everything about this world. Can we really let down of the things of this world? God will give us everything we need, do we really believe in it?

馬太福音6:24說:「一個人不能侍奉兩個主，不是惡這個愛那個，就是重這個輕那個。你們不能又侍奉神，又侍奉瑪門。」完全委身的禱告是祈求神的旨意而不是我們的旨意得以實現。我們敬拜世界而不是敬拜神，瑪門不單是我們的財富，而是這個世界的一切。我們真的能放下這個世界的事物嗎？神會給我們所需要的一切，我們真的相信嗎？

Matthew 6:25-27 “Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Everything we have is from God, we cannot rely on anything, because we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. We cannot foresee the future, the wars, the earthquakes, the floods…

馬太福音6:25-27「所以我告訴你們，不要為生命憂慮吃什麼喝什麼，為身體憂慮穿什麼。生命不勝於飲食嗎？身體不勝於衣裳嗎？ 你們看那天上的飛鳥，也不種也不收，也不積蓄在倉裡，你們的天父尚且養活牠，你們不比飛鳥貴重得多嗎？ 你們哪一個能用思慮使壽數多加一刻呢？」我們所擁有的一切都是從神而來的，我們不能依靠任何東西，因為我們不知道明天會發生什麼。我們無法預見未來，戰爭、地震、洪水…

Matthew 6:34 “Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” If we don’t know God, if we don’t see God as God, then we will always worry, we will not be able to sleep at night, our bones will be dry and we will not have peace and joy. We will not be able to trust God and trust people, everything becomes an act, only when we are willing to live in the House of God, to seek His Kingdom first, then there is the eternal blessing and joy. What is our decision?

馬太福音6:34:「所以，不要為明天憂慮，因為明天自有明天的憂慮。一天的難處一天當就夠了。」如果我們不認識神，如果我們不把神看作神，那麼我們就會一直憂慮，晚上睡不著覺，骨頭會枯乾，沒有平安喜樂。我們將無法信靠神、信靠人，一切都變成了行為，只有當我們願意住在神的家中，先尋求祂的國度時，才有永恆的祝福和喜樂。我們的決定是什麼？

Solomon knew this principle, he had the wisdom from God, but why did he go astray in his old age? Because he didn’t have the salvation of Jesus. We live in this generation, Jesus has already saved us and taught us how to pray, to first seek God and everything will be given to us!

所羅門知道這個道理，他有神的智慧，但為什麼他在晚年卻遠離神了呢？因為他沒有得到耶穌的救恩。我們活在這個世代，耶穌已經拯救了我們，教導我們如何禱告，先尋求神，一切都會賜給我們！