八月五日[mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/08/0805.mp3″]
经文: 难道你的弟兄去打仗，你们竟坐在这里么？（民数记三十二：6）
家庭亲戚间有彼此应尽的义务。流便的子孙和迦得的子孙在分得了所占领的地方后，就袖手不管，让他支派的百姓去为他们应得的分争战，这两支派的人可说是最无手足之情了。我们今天所得着的大部分是过去圣徒努力和受苦的结果。我们若不回报教会，为她献上最好的精力，就不配在她的组织中有分。有人在与时代的错误奋勇格斗，有人从堕落的废墟中将灭亡的人拉拔出来；我们若袖手旁观，小心那加于米罗斯的诅咒“不来帮助耶和华”也落到我们头上（参阅士五：23）。葡萄园的主人问道：“你们为什么整天在这里闲站呢？”（太二十：6）看到献身的传教士如此劳苦和热心的事奉，我们若偷懒，实在是羞愧！从试炼中退缩是那些希望在锡安过轻松日子的人之试探。他们喜欢逃避十字架但仍希望能戴上冠冕。倘若最宝贵的就是要在炉火中经受试验，我们还要逃避坩埚吗？倘若钻石心须在车床上磨光，我们能不经苦难而完全吗？为什么我们希望得到比我们的主更好的待遇呢？长子承受痛苦的煎熬，为何其他弟兄要逃避呢？胆怯的骄傲为十字架的兵士选择羽毛枕头和丝缎卧榻。将自己交给上帝的人能藉恩典学习喜爱十字架。
Evening, August 5
Scripture: “Shall your brethren go to war, and shall ye sit here?”(Numbers 32:6)
Kindred has its obligations. The Reubenites and Gadites would have been unbrotherly if they had claimed the land which had been conquered, and had left the rest of the people to fight for their portions alone. We have received much by means of the efforts and sufferings of the saints in years gone by, and if we do not make some return to the church of Christ by giving her our best energies, we are unworthy to be enrolled in her ranks. Others are combating the errors of the age manfully, or excavating perishing ones from amid the ruins of the fall, and if we fold our hands in idleness we had need be warned, lest the curse of Meroz fall upon us. The Master of the vineyard saith, “Why stand ye here all the day idle?” What is the idler’s excuse? Personal service of Jesus becomes all the more the duty of all because it is cheerfully and abundantly rendered by some. The toils of devoted missionaries and fervent ministers shame us if we sit still in indolence. Shrinking from trial is the temptation of those who are at ease in Zion: they would fain escape the cross and yet wear the crown; to them the question for this evening’s meditation is very applicable. If the most precious are tried in the fire, are we to escape the crucible? If the diamond must be vexed upon the wheel, are we to be made perfect without suffering? Who hath commanded the wind to cease from blowing because our bark is on the deep? Why and wherefore should we be treated better than our Lord? The firstborn felt the rod, and why not the younger brethren? It is a cowardly pride which would choose a downy pillow and a silken couch for a soldier of the cross. Wiser far is he who, being first resigned to the divine will, groweth by the energy of grace to be pleased with it, and so learns to gather lilies at the cross foot, and, like Samson, to find honey in the lion.