我們可以信靠上帝

馬太福音6:26 你們看那天上的飛鳥，也不種，也不收，也不積蓄在倉裏，你們的天父尚且養活牠。你們不比飛鳥貴重得多嗎？
基督說：「每天你親眼看見天父上帝怎樣餵養田野的小鳥，而且小鳥毫憂毫慮。你又怎麼可以不信靠上帝，也餵養你呢？因為他是你的父，稱你為他的兒女！他造你們為他的兒女。他把他的道和萬有都給你們，遠超過他給小鳥的。小鳥並不是他的兒女，卻是你們的僕人。難道他不掛心你們嗎？
鳥兒四處飛著、歡唱著、並不擔心這世界。這正是上帝喜悅的。好像鳥兒們在說：「雖然我不知道我吃的穀粒從哪裡來，我仍唱著，嬉戲著。我的麵包還沒有烘烤，我的穀粒尚未種下。但是，我知道我有一位富有的主人。我唱我睡，他都看顧。他能給我遠超我和所有世人的憂慮所能成就的。」
鳥兒都學會了信靠上帝的技藝，懂得將自己的憂慮交托給他。我們這些上帝的兒女應該作得更多。所以，這個絕佳的例子讓我們都羞愧。我們這些有理智的人，又有聖經，卻沒有足夠智慧，不能效法飛鳥。我們每日聽到小鳥的歌唱，正是我們自己在上帝和人面前的難堪。但是，當人從上帝的話語和誡命中墮落之後，人就變得瘋狂和愚蠢。受造物中只要是有生命的物種，都比人更有智慧。即使人有整本聖經和理智可以幫助自己，雖然一隻小雀鳥不能說，也不能讀，但卻足以當人的神學家，作人在聖經方面的老師。——馬丁路德（AE 21:198）

We Can Trust God
Matthew 6:26 Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?

Now Christ says: “Every day you see before your very eyes how the heavenly Father feeds the little birds in the field, without any concern on their part. Can you not trust Him to feed you as well, since He is your Father and calls you His children? Shall He not be concerned about you, whom He has made His children and to whom He gives His Word and all creatures, more than about the little birds, which are not His children but your servants? And yet He thinks enough of them to feed them every day, as if they were the only thing He is concerned about. And He enjoys it when they fly around and sing without a care in the world, as if they were saying: ‘I sing and frolic, and yet I do not know of a single grain that I am to eat. My bread is not baked yet, and my grain is not planted yet. But I have a rich Master who takes care of me while I am singing or sleeping. He can give me more than all my worries and the worries of all people could ever accomplish.’ ” Now, since the birds have learned so well the art of trusting Him and of casting their cares from themselves upon God, we who are His children should do so even more. Thus this is an excellent illustration that puts us all to shame. We, who are rational people and who have the Scriptures in addition, do not have enough wisdom to imitate the birds. When we listen to the little birds singing every day, we are listening to our own embarrassment before God and the people. But after his fall from the word and the commandment of God, man became crazy and foolish; and there is no creature alive which is not wiser than he. A little finch, which can neither speak nor read, is his theologian and master in the Scriptures, even though he has the whole Bible and his reason to help him. (AE 21:198)

Photo is from images.natureworldnews.com.