二月二十五日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/02/0225.mp3″]
经文: 约拿却起来，逃往他施去躲避耶和华。下到约帕……（约拿书一：3）
约拿没有按照上帝的吩咐前往尼尼微去宣告上帝的话，反倒逃往约帕去躲避上帝。在某些场合中，上帝的仆人会退缩不尽责，但其结果为何呢?约拿的行为使他蒙受什么损失?他失去了上帝的同在，不再舒适地享受上帝的爱。当我们尽信徒的义务去事奉主耶稣时，上帝必与我们同在。纵然全世界的人抵挡我们，但是有上帝的同在，这些难处又能把我们么样呢？但是如果我们寻求自己的意愿，就如同没有驾驶员的船只在海中漂泊。继而我们会悲伤地叹息：“我的上帝啊，祢到那里去了？我怎能愚蠢地逃避服事祢？这个代价太高了，求祢让我回转以致我能因祢的同在而喜乐。”约拿也失去了心灵的全部平安。罪瞬间就毁灭了信徒的安慰。约拿失去了能给他安慰的一切事物。因为他不遵行上帝的旨意，他无法恳求上帝的覆庇，他不能说：“主啊，我在执行任务时遭遇困难，求祢助我胜过。”他偏行已路，自食其果。基督徒啊，不要效法约拿，除非你希望巨浪怒涛淹没你。你会发现逃避上帝的工作和祂的旨意，比你立时顺服更为困难。最后，约拿因要往他施去而浪费了时间。与上帝对抗是难事，让我们立刻降服于祂。
Evening, February 25
Scripture: “But Jonah rose up to flee unto Tarshish from the presence of the Lord, and went down to Joppa.”(Jonah 1:3)
Instead of going to Nineveh to preach the Word, as God bade him, Jonah disliked the work, and went down to Joppa to escape from it. There are occasions when God’s servants shrink from duty. But what is the consequence? What did Jonah lose by his conduct? He lost the presence and comfortable enjoyment of God’s love. When we serve our Lord Jesus as believers should do, our God is with us; and though we have the whole world against us, if we have God with us, what does it matter? But the moment we start back, and seek our own inventions, we are at sea without a pilot. Then may we bitterly lament and groan out, “O my God, where hast thou gone? How could I have been so foolish as to shun thy service, and in this way to lose all the bright shinings of thy face? This is a price too high. Let me return to my allegiance, that I may rejoice in thy presence.” In the next place, Jonah lost all peace of mind. Sin soon destroys a believer’s comfort. It is the poisonous upas tree, from whose leaves distil deadly drops which destroy the life of joy and peace. Jonah lost everything upon which he might have drawn for comfort in any other case. He could not plead the promise of divine protection, for he was not in God’s ways; he could not say, “Lord, I meet with these difficulties in the discharge of my duty, therefore help me through them.” He was reaping his own deeds; he was filled with his own ways. Christian, do not play the Jonah, unless you wish to have all the waves and the billows rolling over your head. You will find in the long run that it is far harder to shun the work and will of God than to at once yield yourself to it. Jonah lost his time, for he had to go to Nineveh after all. It is hard to contend with God; let us yield ourselves at once.