Psalm 63:1 “You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.”  

         One way to tell if you are experiencing a true spiritual journey is this - that you have a deep sense of God's absence. Sometimes it's disheartening when you hear all these stories of other people who have these incredible experiences of how God comes into their lives and uses them for His kingdom. For example, someone shares a testimony about how "God spoke to me the other day, and I’ve now led 50 people to Jesus at school this past weekend." That might be an exaggeration, but we might hear similar stories and feel like we don’t quite measure up as Christians.  

            It can be so discouraging. We ask, “Why doesn't God show up in my life like that? Why doesn’t God use me like that?” Here's something hopeful to encourage you: sometimes, when you feel like God isn't there or that he feels absent, and that leads you to search him out, to seek him, you just might be experiencing something very spiritual.  

            Sometimes you need to feel hungry in order to know you need food.  When your stomach is empty and it's time to eat, your body tells you. Your stomach sends signals to your brain telling you, “Hey I'm empty...you need to feed me something delicious.”

            In the same way, sometimes you need to feel God's absence to know that you need his presence. If you feel unsatisfied with your experience of God, if you feel dissatisfied, if you feel like your spiritual life empty, you're likely longing for a deeper experience with him. This could be a wonderful thing you because it could be a sign to you that His Spirit is actually at work in your life. Tim Keller says "God's absence is his presence." 

             If you are unhappy in your relationship with God, it just might be that He’s actually working in you to show you that you need more of Him. May we be a people who thirst and hunger for God. 

            「神啊，祢是我的神，我要切切地尋求祢！在乾旱疲乏無水之地，我渴想祢，我的心切慕祢。」
詩篇63:1      

        有一種方法能夠讓你知道自己是否正在經歷真正的屬靈旅程 – 就是你對神的不同在有一種深切的認知感。有時，當你聽到其他人的一些故事，分享神如何進入他們的生命中，並為神的國度作服事的一些難以置信的經歷時，你可能會感到洩氣。例如，有人分享「上帝前幾天對我說話，這個週末我在學校就帶領了 50 人歸向基督」的見證。這或許有點誇張，但我們可能就是聽到這些類似的故事，而感到自己不符合作基督徒的標準。

       這可以是十分令人沮喪的。我們會問：「為什麼神不會那樣出現在我的生命中？為什麼神不這樣使用我？」這裡希望可以給你鼓勵：有時，當你不感覺到神或者沒有感到祂的同在時，就會促使你尋找祂，尋求祂，或者你只是正處身在一個非常屬靈的經歷中。      

       有時你需要感到飢餓才會知道你需要食物。當你肚腹空空的時候，你的身體就會告訴你是時候進食。你的胃向你的大腦發送信號，告訴你：「嘿，我內裏空空如也……你大概要給我點好吃的吧！」  

        同樣，有時你需要感覺到神的不同在才會知道你需要祂的同在。如果你對自己經歷神不感到滿足，如果你覺得不滿意，或者覺得自己的屬靈生命虛空，你很可能正渴想更深地經歷祂。這對你來說可能是一件美事，因為這可能是一些徵象表明聖靈正在你身上動工。Tim Keller說：「神的不同在就是祂的同在。」  

         如果你不滿意現在與神的關係，那可能是因為祂正在你身上作工，告訴你你需要祂更多。願我們都成為渴慕神的人。

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