十二月二日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/12/1202.mp3″]
经文: 都是虚空。（传道书一：14）
除了主的爱和祂的同在，没有其它任何事物能教人心满足。最有智慧的所罗门王以他自己的生活为所有的人证实了这一点，也为你我做我们自己都不敢做的事。他们自己作见证说：“这样，我就日见昌盛，胜过以前在耶路撒冷的众人。我的智慧仍然存留。凡我眼所求的，我没有留下不给他的。我心所乐的，我没有禁止不享受的。因我的心为我一切所劳碌的快乐。这就是我从劳碌中所得的分。后来我察看我手所经营的一切事，和我劳碌所成的功。谁知都是虚空，都是捕风，在日光之下毫无益处。”（传二：9~11）“虚空的虚空，虚空的虚空。凡事都是虚空。”（传一：2）。得宠的王啊，你一切的财富都算不得什么吗？你华丽的宫中尽都虚空吗？在你一切的笙歌、曼舞、美酒和奢华中，空无一物吗？“虚空，”他答道，“只有心灵的疲乏。”在他享尽世上一切欢乐以后，他下了如此结论。能拥抱我们的主耶稣，住在祂的爱中，完全确信与祂连结，这才是一切的一切。你不需尝试其它的生活方式，来决定那是否比基督徒的生活更好。即使你环游世界，也不可能见到像救主面容的景物。即使你能尽享生活中的舒适，却失去救主，也将是世上最可怜的人。反之，你若有救主，即使被囚于地牢，也如在乐园。即使黑暗临到或饥寒交迫仍能因得主的喜悦而满足，并满有祂的慈爱。
Evening, December 2
Scripture: “Behold, all is vanity.”(Ecclesiastes 1:14)
Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self. Saints have tried to anchor in other roadsteads, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges. Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we must not dare to do for ourselves. Here is his testimony in his own words: “So I was great, and increased more than all that were before me in Jerusalem: also my wisdom remained with me. And whatsoever mine eyes desired I kept not from them, I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labour: and this was my portion of all my labour. Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” What! the whole of it vanity? O favoured monarch, is there nothing in all thy wealth? Nothing in that wide dominion reaching from the river even to the sea? Nothing in Palmyra’s glorious palaces? Nothing in the house of the forest of Lebanon? In all thy music and dancing, and wine and luxury, is there nothing? “Nothing,” he says, “but weariness of spirit.” This was his verdict when he had trodden the whole round of pleasure. To embrace our Lord Jesus, to dwell in his love, and be fully assured of union with him－this is all in all. Dear reader, you need not try other forms of life in order to see whether they are better than the Christian’s: if you roam the world around, you will see no sights like a sight of the Saviour’s face; if you could have all the comforts of life, if you lost your Saviour, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then should you rot in a dungeon, you would find it a paradise; should you live in obscurity, or die with famine, you will yet be satisfied with favour and full of the goodness of the Lord.
