一月十三日
约沙法制造他施船只，要往俄斐去，将金子运来；只是没有去，因为船在以旬迦别破坏了。（王上22:48）
所罗门的船只平安地回来了，但约沙法的却不曾到出金子的地方。神叫这一个人兴盛，而却拦阻另一个人的欲望，同样的事，同一个地点，大君王和另一位一样的善良聪明。愿我们今天能从这节经文得到恩典，船在以旬迦别破了，或是从海外满载属世的宝物归来，我们要一样地赞美主。让我们不要妒忌那大得成功的人，也不要为自己的失败而垂头丧气，怨言百出，好像只有我们特别经受苦难一样。我们和约沙法一样，虽或我们的计划终归失败，但我们仍在神的眼中看为宝贵。
约沙法失败的原因是值得注意的，因为那也是神的子民受苦的根源；因为他与一个有罪的家联合，他与罪人来往。历代志下第二章三十七节说：“因你与亚哈谢交好，耶和华必破坏你所造的。”这好像慈父的责备一样，对他是有好处的；因为照列王纪上第二十二章四十九节所说，他拒绝使自己的仆人和恶王的仆人坐船同去。在神看来，约沙法的经验很可警戒主的一切子民，使他们避免和不信的人同负一轭。那是很不相称的！许多悲残的生活常是因为在婚姻上或其他事上自行选择与属世的人合伙的结果。为了爱耶稣，为了像他，我们要圣洁，无邪，无污，与罪人分别出来；因为若不如此，我们必常听到说：“耶和华必破坏你所造的。”
January
13
“Jehoshaphat
made ships of Tharshish to go to Ophir for gold: but they went not; for the
ships were broken at Ezion-geber.” –1 Kings 22:48
Solomon’s ships had returned in safety,
but Jehoshaphat’s vessels never reached the land of gold. Providence prospers
one, and frustrates the desires of another, in the same business and at the
same spot, yet the Great Ruler is as good and wise at one time as another. May
we have grace to-day, in the remembrance of this text, to bless the Lord for
ships broken at Ezion-geber, as well as for vessels freighted with temporal
blessings; let us not envy the more successful, nor murmur at our losses as
though we were singularly and specially tried. Like Jehoshaphat, we may be
precious in the Lord’s sight, although our schemes end in disappointment.
The secret cause of Jehoshaphat’s loss is well worthy of notice, for it
is the root of very much of the suffering of the Lord’s people; it was his
alliance with a sinful family, his fellowship with sinners. In 2 Chron. 20:37,
we are told that the Lord sent a prophet to declare, “Because thou hast
joined thyself with Ahaziah, the Lord hath broken thy works.” This was a
fatherly chastisement, which appears to have been blest to him; for in the
verse which succeeds our morning’s text we find him refusing to allow his
servants to sail in the same vessels with those of the wicked king. Would to
God that Jehoshaphat’s experience might be a warning to the rest of the Lord’s
people, to avoid being unequally yoked together with unbelievers! A life of
misery is usually the lot of those who are united in marriage, or in any other
way of their own choosing, with the men of the world. O for such love to Jesus
that, like Him, we may be holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate from sinners;
for if it be not so with us, we may expect to hear it often said, “The
Lord hath broken thy works.”
