[今日經文 Today’s Reading: 列王紀上 1 Kings 21-22]
13 那去召米該雅的使者對他說：「看哪，眾先知都異口同聲向王說吉言，你也跟他們說一樣的話，說吉言吧！」 14 米該雅說：「我指着永生的耶和華起誓，耶和華向我說甚麼，我就說甚麼。」
列王紀上 1 Kings 22:13-14
13 And the messenger who went to summon Micaiah said to him, “Behold, the words of the prophets with one accord are favorable to the king. Let your word be like the word of one of them, and speak favorably.” 14 But Micaiah said, “As the Lord lives, what the Lord says to me, that I will speak.”
米該雅被要求在王面說預言，但他事先被警告說他應該說吉言，因為已經有四百個假先知“都異口同聲（且已經說了）對王說吉言”。他被迫“跟他們說一樣的話”。
人們喜歡聽到對自己情況的吉言。舊約先知常感到了這種無形的壓力。然而，先知的工作不是要取悅人們，而是要講上帝向他啟示的話。今天，當人們喜歡尋求“正能量”，使得成功神學的”福音”充斥著許多教堂的講壇。但是神的先知要說“神對他說的話”。
寇爾森（Chuck Colson）說得很好：“當我們無法叫出邪惡的名字或識別邪惡時，我們將失去對付邪惡的能力— 最終我們加深了邪惡的致命效果。”
今天世俗主義像海嘯一樣的席捲了我們的文化和學校。為避免我們“失去應對邪惡的能力”，基督徒特別是牧師和教會領袖們清楚說上帝所說的邪惡的時候 ，儘管全世界施壓要我們說相同的吉言。
禱告：親愛的天父，儘管來自世界的壓力越來越大，但願祢給祢的教會勇氣說出祢的話語。 讓祢的僕人說祢說的話！ 奉耶穌的名，阿們。
Micaiah was called to speak before the kings, but he was warned beforehand that he should speak favorably because already four hundred false prophets “with one accord [had spoken words] favorable to the king.” He was pressured to speak the word “like the word of one of them”.
People like to hear words that speak well of their situation. The Old Testament prophets felt this unseen pressure. Yet the prophet’s job was not to please people but to speak what God had revealed to him. Today the Prosperity Gospel has filled the pulpit of many churches as people seek to align themselves with “positive energy”. But God’s prophet is to speak “what God says to him”.
Chuck Colson said it well: “When we cannot name or identify evil, we lose the capacity to deal with it – and ultimately we compound its deadly effects.”
Today Secularism like a tsunami has stormed into our culture and schools. Lest we “lose the capacity to deal with it”, it is time for Christians, especially pastors and church leaders, to identify what God clearly says is evil, despite pressure from the world to speak otherwise.
Prayer: Dear Heavenly Father, may You give Your Church the courage to speak Your Word, in spite of mounting pressure from the world to the contrary. Let Your servants speak what You Speak! In Jesus’ name, Amen.
