God’s Promise to Abram

上帝对亚伯兰的应许.

“But, little did Abraham know that God has a special plan for him.” Putting this into the present day context, we can say that “But, little do we know that God has a special plan for the human race.” Let us not take over the role of God. Let us say to God, “Follow your PLAN.

We leave COVID19 to You, Lord.

We leave the Ukraine War to You, Lord.

We leave the issue of women’s rights in Afghanistan to You, Lord.

In fact, You have said that leaders of this world have Your blessings. We therefore leave the political issues of the day to You, Lord.”

“但是，亚伯拉罕几乎不知道上帝对他有一个特别的计划。”把它放在今天的背景下，我们可以说“但是，我们几乎不知道上帝对人类有一个特别的计划。”让我们不要取代上帝的角色。让我们对上帝说：“遵循你的计划。
主啊，我们把 COVID19 交给你。
主啊，我们把乌克兰战争留给你。
主啊，我们把阿富汗妇女权利的问题留给你。
事实上，您曾说过，这个世界的领袖们有您的祝福。因此，我们把今天的政治问题留给你，主啊。”

God makes a promise to Abraham. God always keeps his promises, but sometimes we have to wait a long time for God’s promises. In the meantime, we need to have faith in Him that He will deliver. One day God said to Abraham and his wife Sarai and asked them to leave the comfort of their home and all of their friends to be directed to another place where God will bless the couple with many of their own children. Abraham was then 75 years old. He decided to follow God and left home to travel southwards to unknown territories. Their cousin, Lot, also decided to follow the couple.

We can read all about this story in Genesis Chapter 12 to Chapter 21. https://youtu.be/NdqrwGJYePQ

神向亚伯拉罕作出应许。神总是信守诺言，但有时我们要等候神的应许。与此同时，我们需要相信他会拯救我们。有一天，上帝对亚伯拉罕和他的妻子撒莱说，要他们离开舒适的家和所有朋友，去另一个地方，在那里上帝会祝福这对夫妇拥有许多自己的孩子。亚伯拉罕当时 75 岁。他决定跟随神，离家南下，到未知的地方去。他们的堂兄洛特也决定跟随这对夫妇。
我们可以在创世记第 12 章到第 21 章中阅读有关这个​​故事的所有内容。https://youtu.be/NdqrwGJYePQ

Sarai conceived when Abraham was ninety-nine years old and finally he got his son, Isaac, when he was a hundred years old. Isaac had produced many more generations of Abraham’s descendants, including Joseph, Jesus’ earthly father.

撒莱在亚伯拉罕九十九岁时怀孕，并在他一百岁时终于得到了他的儿子以撒。以撒生了更多亚伯拉罕的后裔，包括耶稣在世上的父亲约瑟。

Let us read this story from the relevant part of the Bible first.

Genesis 15:1-16 New International Version

The Lord’s Covenant With Abram

15 After this, the word of the Lord came to Abram in a vision:

“Do not be afraid, Abram.
    I am your shield,
    your very great reward.”

² But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?”³ And Abram said, “You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir.”

⁴ Then the word of the Lord came to him: “This man will not be your heir, but a son who is your own flesh and blood will be your heir.” ⁵ He took him outside and said, “Look up at the sky and count the stars—if indeed you can count them.” Then he said to him, “So shall your offspring be.”

⁶ Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.

⁷ He also said to him, “I am the Lord, who brought you out of Ur of the Chaldeans to give you this land to take possession of it.”

⁸ But Abram said, “Sovereign Lord, how can I know that I will gain possession of it?”

⁹ So the Lord said to him, “Bring me a heifer, a goat and a ram, each three years old, along with a dove and a young pigeon.”

¹⁰ Abram brought all these to him, cut them in two and arranged the halves opposite each other; the birds, however, he did not cut in half. ¹¹ Then birds of prey came down on the carcasses, but Abram drove them away.

¹² As the sun was setting, Abram fell into a deep sleep, and a thick and dreadful darkness came over him. ¹³ Then the Lord said to him, “Know for certain that for four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own and that they will be enslaved and mistreated there. ¹⁴ But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves, and afterward they will come out with great possessions. ¹⁵ You, however, will go to your ancestors in peace and be buried at a good old age. ¹⁶ In the fourth generation your descendants will come back here, for the sin of the Amorites has not yet reached its full measure.”

让我们先从圣经的相关部分来看这个故事。创世记 15:1-16

上帝与亚伯兰立约

15 这些事以后，耶和华在异象中对亚伯兰说：“亚伯兰，你不用害怕，我是你的盾牌，我要大大赏赐你。” ² 亚伯兰说：“主耶和华啊，你要赐我什么呢？我没有儿子，继承我家业的人是大马士革人以利以谢。” ³ 亚伯兰又说：“你没有赐我儿子，我家中的仆人将继承我的产业。” ⁴ 耶和华又对他说：“这人不会成为你的继承人，你亲生的儿子才是你的继承人。” ⁵ 耶和华把亚伯兰带到外面，对他说：“你抬头看看天空，数数繁星，你能数得尽吗？你的后裔必这么多。” ⁶ 亚伯兰信耶和华，耶和华便算他为义人。

⁷ 耶和华又对他说：“我是耶和华，我带你离开了迦勒底的吾珥，为要把这片土地赐给你。” ⁸ 亚伯兰说：“主耶和华啊，我怎么知道我会得到这片土地呢？” ⁹ 耶和华说：“你要给我预备三岁的母牛、母山羊和公绵羊各一头，斑鸠和雏鸽各一只。” ¹⁰ 亚伯兰一一照办，把牲畜都劈成两半，一半对着一半地摆列，但没有劈开雀鸟。 ¹¹ 有鸷鸟飞到那些尸体上，亚伯兰赶走了它们。

¹² 太阳下山的时候，亚伯兰睡得很沉，忽然有可怕的黑暗笼罩着他。 ¹³ 耶和华对他说：“你要清楚知道，你的后裔必流落异乡，被奴役、虐待四百年。 ¹⁴ 但我必惩罚奴役他们的国家，之后他们必带着大量的财物离开那里。 ¹⁵ 而你必享长寿，安然离世。 ¹⁶ 到了第四代，你的子孙必重回此地，因为亚摩利人现在还没有恶贯满盈。”

What are the key lessons that we can learn from Abraham?

The very first lesson is that of FAITH, faith that our God can have miracles working in our lives. We need to emphasise here that the word ‘God’ here refers to only one God, no matter whether we call Him Jesus, or the Almighty, or Allah. Looking back at my own past life, I have survived drowning in Singapore’s roadside drain along New Bridge Road in the 1950’s, car rolling over my left foot (at the ankle), also in the 1950’s, getting a scholarship to study and to work in London in spite of the fact that I did not have my ‘A’ Levels in the 1960’s, able to immigrate to New Zealand with my entire family members in the 1980’s and many, many, more such miraculous moments, had it not be for God’s miracles upon me.

我们可以从亚伯拉罕身上学到哪些重要教训？
第一课是信心，相信我们的上帝可以在我们的生活中创造奇迹。这里需要强调的是，这里的“上帝”一词，无论我们称他为耶稣，还是全能者，或安拉，都只指一位上帝。回顾自己过去的生活，我在 1950 年代在新加坡新桥路的路边排水沟中溺水而幸存，车子碾过我的左脚（脚踝处），也是在 1950 年代，我获得了奖学金去学习和工作伦敦，尽管事实上我在 1960 年代没有获得“A”水平，但能够在 1980 年代与我的整个家庭成员一起移民到新西兰，还有很多很多这样的奇迹时刻，如果不是上帝的话奇迹降临在我身上。

Not only must we be totally faithful to God but we need to trust Him completely and to response to His calling promptly. That is the second lesson we learn from this part of the Holy Bible - Obedience to God. Abraham’s respect for God is evidenced by his obedience to God’s commands.

我们不仅必须完全忠于上帝，而且我们需要完全信任他并迅速回应他的呼召。那是我们从圣经的这一部分学到的第二个教训——顺服上帝。亚伯拉罕对上帝的尊重体现在他对上帝命令的服从上。

There are times when we are confused with events around us. We are lost. We do not know where to turn. We look at our surroundings and we are scared. Abraham, in his long life, had no such moments. Why? We wondered. The answer was that Abraham was constantly praying to God, constantly in communication with Him. This is the third and final lesson we need to learn from Abraham - be in constant prayer for God’s blessings. Look at how many times the Muslims pray to Allah in one day. If we wish to live healthy, spiritual lives, we need to be in constant touch with our God.

有时我们会对周围的事件感到困惑。我们迷路了。我们不知道该转向哪里。我们看着周围的环境，我们很害怕。亚伯拉罕在他漫长的一生中，没有这样的时刻。为什么？我们想知道。答案是亚伯拉罕不断地向上帝祈祷，不断地与祂沟通。这是我们需要从亚伯拉罕身上学到的第三个也是最后一个教训——不断祷告祈求上帝的祝福。看看穆斯林在一天内向真主祈祷了多少次。如果我们希望过上健康、属灵的生活，就需要经常与我们的上帝保持联系。