十月十二日

我要默想你的訓詞。（詩119：15）

沉靜比交際更好，緘默比說話更智慧。我們若是常獨自在一處，等候神，因默想他的話得到屬靈的力量，好服侍他，那末我們必然會成爲更好的基督徒。我們應當以神的話爲樂，因爲我們因此可以從它們得到真實的營養。真道像一挂葡萄一樣；若我們要得到葡萄汁，就必須多踹；我們必須再三地壓榨、擠擰。踹酒醡之人的脚必須使勁地踹，不然汁水是不會流出來的；幷且也須把葡萄踹透，不然仍有許多寶貴的汁液消耗了；因此我們要想得到安慰的葡萄汁就得用默想，來踹真道的葡萄。

我們的身體得以存活幷非單把食物吃進口裏就算完了，真正供給肌肉、神經、筋腱和骨胳的乃是消化作用。因著消化作用，內臟才能吸收外面來的食物。我們靈性的營養也是一樣，我們聽神的真道，不能在這裏聽一會，在那裏聽一會，或在別處又聽一會就算了。聽、念、記、學，都需要裏面加以消化直到完全能使用才行，真道的消化多賴默想真道的意義。

爲什麽有一些基督徒，雖然常聽道，而他們屬神的生命長進得非常緩慢呢？因爲他們忽略了私禱，也沒有透徹地默想神的話。他們喜歡麥粉，但他們幷不去磨；他們願意有麥穗，但是不願到地裏去拾；樹上的果子累累，但他們不采摘；水就流在他們的脚下，但他們不彎腰去喝。神啊！願你救我們脫離這種愚妄行事，今晨願我們以“我要默想你的訓詞”作我們的誓言。

October 12

"I will meditate in thy precepts."--Psalm 119:15

There are times when solitude is better than society, and silence is wiser than speech. We should be better Christians if we were more alone, waiting upon God, and gathering through meditation on his Word spiritual strength for labour in his service. We ought to muse upon the things of God, because we thus get the real nutriment out of them. Truth is something like the cluster of the vine: if we would have wine from it, we must bruise it; we must press and squeeze it many times. The bruiser's feet must come down joyfully upon the bunches, or else the juice will not flow; and they must well tread the grapes, or else much of the precious liquid will be wasted. So we must, by meditation, tread the clusters of truth, if we would get the wine of consolation therefrom. Our bodies are not supported by merely taking food into the mouth, but the process which really supplies the muscle, and the nerve, and the sinew, and the bone, is the process of digestion. It is by digestion that the outward food becomes assimilated with the inner life. Our souls are not nourished merely by listening awhile to this, and then to that, and then to the other part of divine truth. Hearing, reading, marking, and learning, all require inwardly digesting to complete their usefulness, and the inward digesting of the truth lies for the most part in meditating upon it. Why is it that some Christians, although they hear many sermons, make but slow advances in the divine life? Because they neglect their closets, and do not thoughtfully meditate on God's Word. They love the wheat, but they do not grind it; they would have the corn, but they will not go forth into the fields to gather it; the fruit hangs upon the tree, but they will not pluck it; the water flows at their feet, but they will not stoop to drink it. From such folly deliver us, O Lord, and be this our resolve this morning, "I will meditate in thy precepts."