Fire in the Desert 旷野的火焰
Dexu Xia
Fire in the Desert
I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt. Exodus 3:10
While riding in the Chihuahuan Desert in the late 1800s, Jim White spotted a strange cloud of smoke spiraling skyward. Suspecting a wildfire, the young cowboy rode toward the source, only to learn that the “smoke” was a vast swarm of bats spilling from a hole in the ground. White had come across New Mexico’s Carlsbad Caverns, an immense and spectacular system of caves.
As Moses was tending sheep in a Middle Eastern desert, he too saw an odd sight that grabbed his attention—a flaming bush that didn’t burn up (Exodus 3:2). When God Himself spoke from the bush, Moses realized he had come to something far grander than it had first appeared. He told Moses, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham” (v. 6). God was about to lead an enslaved people to freedom and show them their true identity as His children (v. 10).
More than six hundred years earlier, God had made this promise to Abraham: “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you” (Genesis 12:3). The flight of the Israelites from Egypt was but one step in that blessing—God’s plan to rescue His creation through the Messiah, Abraham’s descendant.
Today we can enjoy the benefits of that blessing, for God offers this rescue to everyone. Christ came to die for the sins of the whole world. By faith in Him, we too become children of the living God.
What surprising things have helped you learn about God? How are you living in the knowledge that you are one of His children?
Thank You, Father, for making Yourself accessible to me despite Your great power, holiness, and overwhelming presence.
旷野的火焰
我要打发你去见法老，使你可以将我的百姓以色列人从埃及领出来。—出埃及记3章10节
十九世纪末期，吉米 · 怀特在奇华胡安沙漠骑乘时，看见一片奇特的烟云向天空盘旋而上。这年轻牛仔以为有野火发生，立即骑向烟云升起的源头，却发现那阵“烟”是一大群从地底洞穴倾巢而出的蝙蝠。怀特这才发现新墨西哥州卡尔斯巴德洞窟，这片广袤无边、令人叹为观止的地底洞窟。
摩西在中东的旷野牧羊时，同样看到一个吸引他注意的奇异景观，那是一株被火烧着却没有烧毁的荆棘（出埃及记3章2节）。当上帝亲自从荆棘中对摩西说话时，摩西这才发觉自己遇见了远比奇特景观更伟大的至高者。上帝告诉摩西：“我是你父亲的上帝，是亚伯拉罕的上帝”（6节）。上帝要使那些在埃及为奴的以色列百姓得着释放，并让他们知晓自己的真实身分是上帝的子民（10节）。
早在向摩西显现的600多年前，上帝就已应许亚伯拉罕：“地上的万族都要因你得福”（创世记12章3节）。以色列民逃出埃及，只是上帝这个应许中的一步，其实祂的应许是要经由亚伯拉罕后嗣中的那位弥赛亚，来拯救所有的受造物。
今日我们也能因上帝的这个应许而蒙拯救，是因为上帝将救恩赐给每一个人。基督来到世上，是为整个世界的罪而受死。我们因着相信祂，成为永活上帝的儿女。
有哪些令人惊异的事使你认识这位上帝？
知道自己是上帝的儿女，如何使你活出相称的生活方式？
亲爱的天父，祢有极大的能力，且是圣洁无瑕、
可敬可畏，谢谢祢愿意让我能亲近祢。