四月十六日 [mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/04/0416.mp3″]
经文: 他的手就稳住，直到日落的时候。（出埃及记十七：12）
摩西的祈求是如此有力量，以致每个人都依靠它。摩西的祷告，比约书亚的争战打败更多的敌人。但是，二者不可缺一。在属灵的争战中，力量与热心，决定与专注，勇气与激烈必须结在一起。你必须与自己的罪角力，但是角力中的主要部份，是单单由上帝作成的祷告，就像摩西一样是在主前托住所立之约。主不会否认祂自己的宣告。举起应许之仗，你就会得到应允。当摩西疲倦时，他的朋友帮助他。当你的祷告失去活力时，让信心助你一臂之力，再让属上帝的盼望支撑你的另一手。如此一来，建立在我们救恩磐石上的祷告，就能坚持并得胜。小心不要失去专一投入的心。若连摩西都会有无力感，谁还能避免呢？在公开的场合与罪争战远，比在私底下以祷告来抵挡更容易。约书亚在争战中没有感到疲乏，摩西在祷告中却疲累了。属灵的操练越多，血肉之躯要持续就越难。愿上帝的灵帮助我们克服软弱，使我们能像摩西一样继续将手稳定，“直到日落的时候”。间歇之祈祷的效果甚小。我们必须彻夜角力，并举起双手“直到日落的时候。”我们必须坚定直至生命之暮过去，我们来到日出的另一边为止，在那地赞美将代替恳求。
Evening, April 16
Scripture: “And his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”(Exodus 17:12)
So mighty was the prayer of Moses, that all depended upon it. The petitions of Moses discomfited the enemy more than the fighting of Joshua. Yet both were needed. No, in the soul’s conflict, force and fervour, decision and devotion, valour and vehemence, must join their forces, and all will be well. You must wrestle with your sin, but the major part of the wrestling must be done alone in private with God. Prayer, like Moses’, holds up the token of the covenant before the Lord. The rod was the emblem of God’s working with Moses, the symbol of God’s government in Israel. Learn, O pleading saint, to hold up the promise and the oath of God before him. The Lord cannot deny his own declarations. Hold up the rod of promise, and have what you will.
Moses grew weary, and then his friends assisted him. When at any time your prayer flags, let faith support one hand, and let holy hope uplift the other, and prayer seating itself upon the stone of Israel, the rock of our salvation, will persevere and prevail. Beware of faintness in devotion; if Moses felt it, who can escape? It is far easier to fight with sin in public, than to pray against it in private. It is remarked that Joshua never grew weary in the fighting, but Moses did grow weary in the praying; the more spiritual an exercise, the more difficult it is for flesh and blood to maintain it. Let us cry, then, for special strength, and may the Spirit of God, who helpeth our infirmities, as he allowed help to Moses, enable us like him to continue with our hands steady “until the going down of the sun;” till the evening of life is over; till we shall come to the rising of a better sun in the land where prayer is swallowed up in praise.