困惑中的诗歌
我很享受1000块智力拼图带来的挑战。有些人每天订报纸，仅仅是为了做上面的纵横字谜或九宫格游戏。可是有时候，这些智力游戏反而会把我们自己的智力困住了。对使徒保罗来说，也发生了同样的事。
保罗曾在一个非常私人的问题上苦苦挣扎。靠着神的恩典，他认识并接受了耶稣作他的救主。当他开始宣教工作时，不少外邦人相信并接受了耶稣作他们的主，却也有许多和他同族的犹太人拒绝耶稣，这真是令他困惑不解！难道他们不是神所拣选的子民，去与世界分享神之爱的吗？然而，在这些困惑中，保罗仍深信神的大怜悯，以致他唱出这首赞美之歌。
保罗承认，我们永远不能完全理解神的永恒计划。我们若企图了去明白神、定义祂、或使祂与我们世人看齐，终将失败。神不欠我们任何解释，祂也不是我们所能理解的——因为祂是神。
实际上我们可以做的有两件事。第一，保罗暗示，我们应该不止息地赞美神，因为一切荣耀都属于祂，直到永远；第二，保罗继续说，对这一切困惑，我们唯一合理的回应是，把自己完全献上事奉神，完全为祂所用。
我们有没有这样做呢？
神啊，我们经常像保罗一样，困惑于祢对我们的回应。即或这样，愿我们仍对祢的奇妙恩典充满敬畏，以赞美之歌和全心的服事来回应祢。奉耶稣的名祷告，阿们。
罗马书 11:33-12:2
33深哉，神丰富的智慧和知识！ 他的判断何其难测！ 他的踪迹何其难寻！
34谁知道主的心？ 谁作过他的谋士呢？
35谁是先给了他， 使他后来偿还呢？
36因为万有都是本于他， 倚靠他，归于他。 愿荣耀归给他，直到永远。阿们！
1所以，弟兄们，我以神的慈悲劝你们，将身体献上，当作活祭，是圣洁的，是神所喜悦的；你们如此事奉乃是理所当然的。
2不要效法这个世界，只要心意更新而变化，叫你们察验何为神的善良、纯全、可喜悦的旨意。
A Puzzle And A Song
"Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! . . . To him be the glory forever! Amen." — Romans 11:33-36
I enjoy the challenge of putting together a 1,000-piece jigsaw puzzle. Some people get the daily newspaper just to do the crossword puzzle or the Sudoku. But sometimes our puzzles can end up puzzling us. That's how it was for the apostle Paul.
Paul wrestled with a very personal problem. By God's grace he had come to know Jesus as his Savior. As he went about doing his missionary work, many Gentiles came to faith in Jesus as Lord. But many of his own Jewish people rejected Jesus. It was mind boggling to him. Were they not God's special people chosen to share God's love with the world? Nevertheless, Paul was so confident of God's great mercy that he broke into song.
Paul confesses that we can never fully grasp God's eternal plan. Our efforts to understand God, define him, or reduce him to our level will ultimately fail. God owes us no explanation; nor is he accountable to us—for he is God.
There is something we can do—in fact, two things. First, Paul implies that we should keep praising God because all glory belongs to him forever. Then Paul goes on to say that the only reasonable response to all this is to offer ourselves in complete service to God and to be completely available for his use.
Are we doing that?
Lord, often we are as puzzled as Paul about the way you deal with us. Even so, may we stand in awe of your amazing grace and respond to you with songs of praise and acts of service. Amen.
诵读: 楚云
片头: 张妙阳
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