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并非“没有结果”

“他向你所要的是什么呢？只要你行公义，好怜悯，存谦卑的心，与你的上帝同行。”（弥6：8）

我曾听到过二战幸存者接受采访时讲述的信息。那些士兵们回忆起他们是如何度过某场战斗期间“特殊的一天”的。那一天，一个士兵坐在隐蔽处，其它的士兵在打牌消磨时间。有一两次，有一辆德军坦克驶过，坐在隐蔽处的士兵便朝着坦克开枪。那一次战斗，只有少数士兵参与了激烈的交火。一整天，情况差不多都这样。事后，他们得知，他们参加的那场战斗是二战中规模最大，也最具胜负决定意义的战役之一——“巴尔兹之战”。不过，当时没有一个人看得出这个结果。

“伟大”的胜利来自“普通”的任务执行者忠于职守的结果。

当圣徒伊格那修(1491-1556)的同伴们厌倦于“没有结果”的时日时，他总是开出这样的处方——“在荒凉时期，我们不能改变。我们要坚定不移地持守当初——出现‘荒凉’之前——立定的意志和决心。”荒凉时期，属灵的争战必须藉着最“坚硬”的武器——祷告、默想、自省和悔改——来实施。

也许，你感觉到——在属灵的路上，你正处于“没有结果”的“荒凉”阶段。尽你的本份！顺服神——唯有顺服是出路。

老童 译

A Cure For Futility

What does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? — Micah 6:8

I once heard interviews with survivors from World War II. The soldiers recalled how they spent a particular day. One sat in a foxhole; once or twice, a German tank drove by and he shot at it. Others played cards and frittered away the time. A few got involved in furious firefights. Mostly, the day passed like any other. Later, they learned they had just participated in one of the largest, most decisive engagements of the war, the Battle of the Bulge. It didn’t feel decisive at the time because none had the big picture.

Great victories are won when ordinary people execute their assigned tasks.

When followers of Ignatius (1491–1556) endured periods of futility, he always prescribed the same cure: “In times of desolation we must never make a change, but stand firm and constant in the resolutions and determination in which we were the day before the desolations.” Spiritual battles must be fought with the very weapons hardest to wield at the time: prayer, meditation, self-examination, and repentance.

Perhaps you sense you’re in a spiritual rut. Stay at your assigned task! Obedience to God—and only obedience—offers the way out of our futility.

By:  Philip Yancey