1. Welcome our listening friends.
亲爱的朋友，欢迎你收听。
2. We are delighted that you tuned in to listen to the rest of this program on the life of Abraham.
很高兴你继续收听有关亚伯拉罕生平的节目。
3. In our last broadcast in Genesis chapter 15,
在上次的节目里，我们讲到创世记十五章，
4. we left Abraham on an emotional and spiritual peak.
那里，亚伯拉罕正处于一个情绪和属灵的高峰上。
5. God passed between the pieces of the sacrifice to confirm His covenant.
神从剖开两半的动物中间走过，以保证祂所立的约。
6. Now you would think that Abraham would spend the rest of his life continually trusting and waiting for the Lord.
现在你可能认为，亚伯拉罕应该会在他的余生里继续不断地信靠和等候神了。
7. But instead… in a moment of impatience he did an about-face…
事实却不是这样，当他失去耐性的那一刻，他竟来个大转弯，
8. and stumbled head-long into the biggest mess he had ever made in his life.
把自己一头栽进他这辈子最大的错误里，弄得一团糟。
9. You may remember I told you in the last few broadcasts that testing always nips at the heals of blessings.
你或许还记得，在过去的几次节目里我告诉过你，试炼总是紧跟在祝福之后来到。
10. For if Genesis chapter15 is called the “Chapter of Faith”…
如果创世记十五章叫做“信心篇”；
11. then Genesis chapter 16 is a “Chapter of Defeat”.
那么创世记十六章就是“失败篇”。
12. If in Genesis 15 Abraham walked by faith…
如果在创世记十五章里，亚伯拉罕是凭着信心而行；
13. in Genesis 16 he walked by sight.
在创世记十六章里，他就是凭着眼见。
14. If in Genesis 15 Abraham listened only to God…
如果在创世记十五章里，亚伯拉罕专心听从神；
15. in Genesis 16 he did what Adam did and listened to his wife.
在创世记十六章里，他却和亚当一样听从他的妻子。
16. My listening friends, don’t misunderstand me here.
亲爱的朋友，请不要误会我。
17. Wives are wonderful counselors
妻子往往是很好的参谋，
18. but on this occasion Sarah wrongly misled Abraham…
但是在这件事上，撒拉错误的影响了亚伯拉罕。
19. and he acquiesced and followed her to sin.
亚伯拉罕不但默许了这件事，并且跟着她去犯罪。
20. That does not mean that Abraham was perfect.
这并不表示说亚伯拉罕原来是完美无罪的。
21. I want to remind you that it was Abraham who asked Sarah to lie for him when they went to Egypt.
我要提醒你的就是，当他们去埃及的时候，是亚伯拉罕要撒拉为他说谎的。
22. Far from putting the blame on Sarah… it was Abraham who should have known better.
不要太早怪罪于撒拉，亚伯拉罕本来就该懂得分辨是非。
23. Do you remember from our last broadcast… when Abraham reminded the Lord of planning his life according to the law of the land.
你还记得在上次的节目里，亚伯拉罕曾经提醒神，按着当地的习俗作为他自己的人生规划吗？
24. Do you remember what God said?
你还记得神怎么说？
25. In effect, God said “Abraham, you can not do this.”
实际上，神说：“亚伯拉罕，你不能这么作。”
26. Let’s read verse 4 of chapter 15 once again
让我们再读一次十五章第四节，
27. “Then the word of the LORD came to him: ‘This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will be your heir.’”
耶和华又有话对他说：“这人必不成为你的后嗣，你本身所生的才成为你的后嗣。”
28. Sarah had two problems with this.
关于这一点，撒拉有两个疑问：
29. Number 1.
第一个问题，
30. She was thoroughly frustrated because she was unable to become pregnant.
由于她一直不能怀孕，使她完全的灰心了。
31. Some of you will understand Sarah's heartache.
有些人会了解撒拉内心的痛苦。
32. Secondly,
第二个问题，
33. it did not seem that at her age she would be able to have her own baby.
以她当时的年龄，简直不可能会有自己的孩子的。
34. So she did what was customary in those days for a barren woman who could not have a child of her own.
所以她就照着在当时为不能生育、不能有自己孩子的妇女的习俗去做。
35. She gave her maid to her husband so that the maid could bear a child by the husband.
她让她的使女与她的丈夫同房，好让那使女从她丈夫怀孕。
36. This is symbolically at least… as if the baby was born of the wife.
这么做，起码象征着那婴儿就像是妻子自己生的一样。
37. So in verse 2 of chapter 16 Sarah tells Abraham… God has prevented me from having a baby.
所以在十六章第二节那里，撒拉对亚伯拉罕说，耶和华使我不能生育。
38. Well if she is going to blame someone… it might as well be God… right?
如果她想要埋怨谁的话，就埋怨神吧，对吗？
39. So, she believed that God closed her womb…
不错，她相信是神封闭了她的子宫，
40. but she could not believe that He could open her womb.
但是她不相信神能叫她的子宫重开。
41. How many of us blame God when things go wrong?…
我们有多少人是在事情不顺利时埋怨神，
42. and we cannot believe that God can bring good out of these wrong things.
又不相信神能够从不好的事里带出好的结果来。
43. But that is wrong thinking.
这是错误的想法。
44. Sarah's action was the epitome of self-sacrifice…
撒拉的行为是自我牺牲的化身，
45. but sometimes we do the wrong thing with good motives.
但有些时候，我们虽有正确的动机，却做错了事。
46. And that does not glorify God!
这样子并不能荣耀神！
47. Sarah was trying to circumvent… and short-circuit God’s plan…
撒拉自作聪明，反而中断了神的计划。
48. so she mislead Abraham away from the path of obedience… and trusting in God's promises on God's schedule.
她误导亚伯拉罕，离开了顺服神的道路，不再信靠神会按照神的时间实现祂的应许。
49. She not only wronged Abraham… she wronged Hagar… and she wronged herself…
她不但错待亚伯拉罕，错待夏甲，更错待她自己。
50. by trying to rob herself from being the Matriarch of a great nation.
她剥夺自己成为一个伟大的国家之母的荣誉。
51. My listening friends, listen carefully
亲爱的朋友，请留心的听着，
52. Christians often make the same double-edge mistake that Sarah made.
基督徒经常会犯与撒拉同样的双重错误。
53. Namely… presuming on God's grace on the one hand…
那就是，一方面似乎是相信神的恩典，
54. and trying to help God out on the other.
另一方面却自作主张，想要帮助神解决事情。
55. What about Abraham?
那么亚伯拉罕呢？
56. Well… he went right on with the program.
他毫不犹豫的同意了撒拉的计划。
57. He did not pray.
他没有祷告，
58. He did not go to Bethel to check with God.
也没有先到伯特利去求问神，
59. It was the natural thing to do…
顺理成章的就去做了。
60. and when something is natural it is not supernatural.
然而，当你认为这是自然而然的事，那就不会有超自然的事发生了。
61. But what an awesome God we have!
但是我们的神是多么的令人敬畏呀！
62. He is famous for picking up the tattered threads of our disobedience and weaves them into something beautiful.
祂最擅长于拾取我们那些不顺服的烂布条，然后编织成美丽的成品。
63. He is famous for pasting together the fragments of fractured lives into a beautiful picture.
祂最着称于把我们生命残余的碎片，重新黏贴在一起，成为美丽的图画。
64. He specializes in taking the throw-away material and produces a beautiful quilt out of them.
祂专长于废物利用，收集那些丢弃的布料，缝成美丽的被子。
65. So Abraham and Sarah finally found out a way to help God perform His miracle.
亚伯拉罕和撒拉自以为找到了一个可以帮助神行神迹的方法。
66. Listening friends, I want you to listen very carefully.
亲爱的朋友，请你留心的听，
67. When God intervenes He doesn't need any help.
当神插手的时候，祂不需要任何的帮助。
68. In fact, the opposite is true
事实上，反过来说也是这样，
69. When we step out of God's plan, we try to do it ourselves, and we can be sure that strife will follow.
当我们违背神的计划，尝试着用自己的办法去做时，我们可以肯定，冲突跟着就会来临。
70. When the flesh and the old nature intrude in the work of the church of God . . . division is inevitable.
当血气和老我侵入神教会的圣工时，分裂是难以避免的。
71. Whenever we let our desire to get out of control… we leave behind a trail of broken pieces and broken lives.
当我们放纵自己的欲望，我们会留下一长串分裂的碎片和伤痛的生命。
72. So in this case… little Ishmael came on the scene
就在这种情况之下，小以实马利登场了。
73. born to an unhappy Sarah,
他生下来面对一个不快乐的撒拉，
74. born into every tension and resentment,
生在一个充满紧张与怨恨的环境里。
75. no wonder he was called a “wild donkey of a man.”
难怪他被称为“像野驴般的人”。
76. My listening friends, listen again.
亲爱的朋友，请继续听下去。
77. Sarah seems to have forgotten that she is the one who instigated this whole problem.
撒拉似乎忘记了她自己是引起整个麻烦的人。
78. Imagine Abraham’s confusion.
想想看，亚伯拉罕真是被弄糊涂了。
79. He knew that this was Sarah’s idea.
他明知这是撒拉的主意，
80. And yet, Sarah blamed it on Abraham.
然而，撒拉却把这件事怪罪于亚伯拉罕。
81. Yes, refusing to accept responsibility for our actions is not a modern day phenomenon.
没错，为自己的行为推卸责任，不是现代才有的现象，
82. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed Satan.
当年亚当怪罪于夏娃，夏娃怪罪于撒但，
83. And here, Sarah sought to place the blame on Abraham.
而这里，撒拉则嫁罪于亚伯拉罕，
84. Poor old Abraham… he was living in a house with two feuding women.
可怜的亚伯拉罕，他生活在两个女人彼此为仇这样的家里，
85. Men . . . I want you to learn from Abraham… learn how you handle this situation.
男士们，我希望你跟亚伯拉罕学习，学他如何处理这种情况。
86. Abraham understood the first lesson of survival which is called… surrender.
亚伯拉罕知道，求生的第一课就是投降。
87. He knew he couldn't go to work and get away from home.
他知道，他不能借着工作逃避家里的纠纷。
88. Most of us prefer to run away from our problems…
我们大多数的人，都宁可逃避我们的问题，
89. rather than trying to deal with problems
而不愿尝试着去解决问题。
90. But what they often don't realize is this…
但他们往往没有意识到，
91. That they are carrying their problems right with them.
虽然他们逃避，问题还是跟着他们。
92. But the Angel of the Lord appeared to Hagar
耶和华的使者向夏甲显现，
93. And the angel told her the two words that would give most of us pause and Hagar tried to escape from the house situation.
我们大部分的人，如果听见使者对她说的话，都会停下来想一想，而夏甲只想逃避家里发生的情况。
94. But then the Angel of the Lord came to her and told her what she did not want to hear.
然而耶和华的使者对她说了她不想听到的话，
95. He said, “return and submit.”
耶和华的使者说：“你回到你主母那里，服在她手下。”
96. Most of us pray that God would change our circumstances.
大部分的人都会祷告，求神改变我们的环境。
97. Most often when I pray that kind of prayer… I hear the Lord to be saying the following:
往往当我作这样的祷告时，我就会听到主这么对我说：
98. “I want to change you to suit your circumstances.”
“我要改变你去适应你的环境。”
99. And so Hagar comes back to put up with Sarah for 13 more years!
因此夏甲就回家去，容忍的又多服侍了撒拉十三年！
100. At this point of time at the end of Chapter 16 of Genesis Abraham was 86 years old.
在创世记十六章结束的时候，亚伯拉罕已经八十六岁了。
101. We are going to stop our study here.
今天我们就讲到这里，
102. In our next broadcast, I want to tell you what Abraham did between the ages of 86 and 99.
在下次的节目里，我要告诉你亚伯拉罕在八十六岁到九十九岁之间做了些什么。
103. Until then, I wish you God’s richest blessings.
愿神大大的赐福给你，下次再会。
