如果你曾經讀過聖經，即使只讀一點點，一定也會注意到聖經非常重視「做決定」，特別當決定的事物有關我們與上帝之間的關係時。我們有時可能會搖擺不定或想遲延履行義務，上帝的要求卻是非常清楚且絕無彈性的。我們會計較條件、模陵兩可、存觀望的態度，但上帝要我們做一個明確的決定。上帝會動工一段時間來贏取我們，但祂也警告說，祂的聖靈將不會一直與我們耗下去。如果我們遲延不決，祂最後將會停止對我們的勸服，而上帝警告我們，結果將會很悲慘。

        耶穌為耶路撒冷哀哭就是一個例子。這座城市代表整個以色列國──耶穌的百姓和上帝的選民。請注意，耶穌即使對耶路撒冷充滿了憐憫和悲傷，祂還是直言不諱的宣佈了該城毀滅的厄運：「日子將到，你的仇敵必築起土壘，周圍環繞你，四面困住你，並要毀滅你和你裡頭的兒女，連一塊石頭也不留在石頭上……。」（43－44節）。這是一件嚴重、令人震驚的事，耶穌似乎預見在這裡會發生一場種族的大屠殺。

        更令人難以接受的是，這段經文所顯示的上帝，看起來好像有分裂的性格。祂一方面以永遠的愛愛祂的百姓，另一方面卻又對他們宣佈殘酷的審判，並且，看祂的選民「不知道上帝眷顧的時候」。

        這件事教我們什麼功課呢？上帝是慈愛的，上帝也是公正的，祂不會永遠延遲不審判。聽起來很恐怖！？但卻是千真萬確的。所以，當上帝說話時，我們最好認真的聽。

        天父上帝，求您幫助我們聽從並順服您。我們決志要順服您，您也向我們保證您的恩典。因著恩，也藉著信，您拯救了我們（弗２：８）。謝謝您！奉主耶穌基督聖名，阿們！

English

        If you have read even a bit of the Bible, you’re sure to have noticed the awfully serious view it takes of decision-making: especially those decisions about our relationship with God. When we’re vague, He is clear-cut and downright inflexible. We want qualifiers, maybe’s, and wait-and-see’s. He wants either/or. He will work for a while at winning us, but warns that his Spirit will not always wrestle with us. If we put the decision off He’ll eventually stop trying to convince us, and the results, He warns, will be disastrous.

        A case in point is Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. The city personifies the nation of Israel, Jesus’ own and God the Father’s chosen people. Notice that, even in the context of a heart-rending compassion, Jesus in gratingly blunt in His pronouncement of doom: “The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another…” (vv. 43, 44). This is pretty hard stuff; it almost seems that Jesus is foreseeing genocide here.

        What makes it even more difficult is the seemingly schizophrenic nature of God in this passage. On the one hand, He loves His people with an everlasting love, on the other He pronounces judgment and appears to be prepared to sit back and let it happen. And this is all because His chosen ones “did not recognize the time of God’s coming” to them.

        The lesson? God is love and God is just, and won’t extend His love forever, any more than He will postpone His judgment forever. It’s scary, but true – when God speaks, we’d better listen.

        Lord God, please help us to listen and obey. We pledge our determination and You have pledged us Your Grace. Bay grace through faith You save us. Thank You! (Eph.2:8).