十一月十七日 [mp3_embed playlst=”/downloading/audio/evening/11/1117.mp3″]
经文: 劈开木头的，必遭危险。（传道书十：9）
欺压者可以轻易地欺负贫困有缺乏的人，就如同他们能轻易劈开木头一样，但却不知道自己在从事一件危险的事。我们常听说木头的裂片能使樵夫丧命。在每位被伤害的圣徒心中，耶稣也遭迫害，而祂有大能为所爱的人报仇，因此践踏贫穷人是应当惧怕的。倘若迫害者目前没有危险，以后也必遭大灾难。在日常生活里，在与你蒙召有关的事中，也有许多危险是必须是要留意的。不是洪水或疾病或死亡的危险，乃是属灵方面的危险。你的职业可能卑微如一劈柴者，然而魔鬼也会藉着它来试探你。你可能只是家庭佣人、农场工人、或机械工人，但你仍可能在严重的试探中被筛来筛去。还有，隐藏的罪使你陷入危机。隐居雾中者虽不与外界粗暴世界交往，也会在隐退生活中遭遇危险。骄傲能进入穷苦者之心；贪婪能辖制贫困者的胸怀；不洁能闯入安静的家园；忿怒、忌恨和恶毒能渗入最纯朴的住处。即使向佣人说寥寥数语也可能犯罪；在商店中购买极少的货品也可能引向试探；从窗口向外一瞥可能是犯罪的开始。主啊，我们是何等缺乏抵抗力啊！我们怎能安全无事呢？唯有祢能保守我们脱离这邪恶的世代。愿祢展翅覆庇我们，好让我们隐藏在祢的翼下寻得安全。
Evening, November 17
Scripture: “He that cleaveth wood shall be endangered thereby.”(Ecclesiastes 10:9)
Oppressors may get their will of poor and needy men as easily as they can split logs of wood, but they had better mind, for it is a dangerous business, and a splinter from a tree has often killed the woodman. Jesus is persecuted in every injured saint, and he is mighty to avenge his beloved ones. Success in treading down the poor and needy is a thing to be trembled at: if there be no danger to persecutors here there will be great danger hereafter.
To cleave wood is a common every-day business, and yet it has its dangers; so then, reader, there are dangers connected with your calling and daily life which it will be well for you to be aware of. We refer not to hazards by flood and field, or by disease and sudden death, but to perils of a spiritual sort. Your occupation may be as humble as log splitting, and yet the devil can tempt you in it. You may be a domestic servant, a farm labourer, or a mechanic, and you may be greatly screened from temptations to the grosser vices, and yet some secret sin may do you damage. Those who dwell at home, and mingle not with the rough world, may yet be endangered by their very seclusion. Nowhere is he safe who thinks himself so. Pride may enter a poor man’s heart; avarice may reign in a cottager’s bosom; uncleanness may venture into the quietest home; and anger, and envy, and malice may insinuate themselves into the most rural abode. Even in speaking a few words to a servant we may sin; a little purchase at a shop may be the first link in a chain of temptations; the mere looking out of a window may be the beginning of evil. O Lord, how exposed we are! How shall we be secured! To keep ourselves is work too hard for us: only thou thyself art able to preserve us in such a world of evils. Spread thy wings over us, and we, like little chickens, will cower down beneath thee, and feel ourselves safe!