The Benefits of Meditation.冥想的益处。

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The Benefits of Meditation

冥想的益处

George Muller

乔治·穆勒

Many years ago, it pleased the Lord to teach me a truth, irrespective of human instrumentality as far as I know, the benefit of which I have not lost — though now, more than forty years have since passed away.

多年前，主乐意教导我一个真理，据我所知，这与人为的工具无关，尽管现在已经过去四十多年了，但我仍未失去这个真理的益处。

The point is this: I saw more clearly than ever that the first great and primary business to which I ought to attend every day was to have my soul enjoying the presence and favor of God.

重点是这样的：我比以往任何时候都更清楚地看到，我每天应该首先关注的最重要和首要的事情是让我的灵魂享受上帝的同在和恩宠。

The first thing to be concerned about was not how much I might serve the Lord, how I might glorify the Lord — but how I might get my soul into a happy state, and how my inner man might be nourished.

首先要关心的不是我可能如何服侍主，如何荣耀主 — 而是我如何使我的灵魂处于愉悦的状态，以及如何滋养我的内在人。

For I might seek to set the truth before the unconverted, I might seek to benefit believers, I might seek to relieve the distressed, I might in other ways seek to behave myself as it becomes a child of God in this world; and yet, not being happy in the Lord, and not being nourished and strengthened in my inner man day by day, all this might not be attended to in a right spirit.

因为我可能寻求向未信主的人阐明真理，我可能寻求使信徒受益，我可能寻求减轻受苦之人的痛苦，我可能以其他方式寻求表现得像这个世界上的神的儿女；然而，若不在主里喜乐，若我的内在生命日复一日得不到滋养和坚固，所有这些可能都不会以正确的心态来完成。

Before this time my practice had been at least for ten years previously, as a habitual thing, to give myself to prayer after having dressed in the morning. Now I saw that the most important thing I had to do was to give myself to the reading of the Word of God and to meditate on it, that thus my heart might be comforted, encouraged, warned, reproved, instructed; and that thus, while meditating, my heart might be brought into experimental communion with the Lord.

在此之前，我至少有十年的习惯是在早晨穿好衣服后投入祷告。现在我意识到，我最重要的事情是投入到阅读神的话语并对其进行默想，这样我的心就能得到安慰、鼓励、警戒、责备和教导；而且，在默想的同时，我的心也能与主进行实际的交通。

I began, therefore, to meditate on the New Testament from the beginning, early in the morning.
因此，我开始在清晨从头开始默想新约圣经。

The first thing I did, after having asked in a few words the Lord’s blessing upon His precious Word, was to begin to meditate on the Word of God, searching, as it were, into every verse to get blessing out of it — not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word, not for the sake of preaching on what I had meditated upon, but for the sake of obtaining food for my own soul.
在简短地祈求主赐福于祂宝贵的话语之后，我做的第一件事就是开始默想神的话语，仿佛在搜寻每一节经文以获得祝福——不是为了公开传道，不是为了讲道所默想的内容，而是为了获得滋养我自己灵魂的食粮。

The result I have found to be almost invariably this: that after a very few minutes my soul has been led to confession, thanksgiving, intercession, or supplication; so that though I did not, as it were, give myself to prayer but to meditation — yet it turned almost immediately more or less into prayer.
我发现结果几乎总是这样：仅仅几分钟后，我的灵魂就被引导到认罪、感恩、代祷或祈求；虽然我并没有，可以说，投入祷告而是在默想——但它几乎立即或多或少地转变成了祷告。

When thus I have been for a while making confession, intercession, or supplication, or have given thanks — I go on to the next words or verse, turning all, as I go on, into prayer for myself or others, as the Word may lead to it; but still continually keeping before me that food for my own soul is the object of my meditation.

当我这样做了一段时间，进行认罪、代祷、祈求或感恩之后——我就继续进行下一句话或经文，在继续的过程中，将所有内容都转化为为自己或他人的祷告，根据圣言的引导；但我始终牢记，滋养自己灵魂的食粮是我默想的目标。

The result of this is that there is always a good deal of confession, thanksgiving, supplication, or intercession mingled with my meditation — and that my inner man almost invariably is even sensibly nourished and strengthened, and that by breakfast time, with rare exceptions, I am in a peaceful if not happy state of heart.

这样做的结果是，我的默想中总是夹杂着大量的认罪、感恩、祈求或代祷——而且我的内在人几乎总是能感受到滋养和强化，到了早餐时间，除了极少数例外，我的心灵都处于平静甚至喜乐的状态。

Thus also the Lord is pleased to give unto me that which, very soon after, I have found to become food for other believers, though it was not for the sake of the public ministry of the Word that I gave myself to meditation, but for the profit of my own inner man.

因此，主也乐意赐给我那些很快就成为其他信徒的灵粮的东西，尽管我投入默想并不是为了公开传道的缘故，而是为了我自己内在人的益处。

The difference then between my former practice and my present one is this: Formerly, when I rose I began to pray as soon as possible, and generally spent all my time until breakfast in prayer, or almost all the time.

那么，我过去的做法和现在的做法之间的区别是这样的：以前，当我起床时，我尽可能快地开始祷告，通常将所有时间或几乎所有时间都用于祷告，直到早餐时间。

At all events, I almost invariably began with prayer, except when I felt my soul to be more than usually barren, in which case I read the Word of God for food, or for refreshment, or for a revival and renewal of my inner man, before I gave myself to prayer.

无论如何，我几乎总是以祷告开始，除非我感到自己的灵魂比平常更加贫瘠，在这种情况下，我会在投入祷告之前阅读上帝的话语，以获得滋养、refreshment[待确认]、revival[待确认]和inner man[待确认]的更新。

But what was the result? I often spent a quarter of an hour, or half an hour, or even an hour on my knees, before being conscious to myself of having derived comfort, encouragement, humbling of soul, etc.; and often, after having suffered much from wandering of mind for the first ten minutes, or a quarter of an hour, or even half an hour, I only then began really to pray.

但结果如何呢？我经常跪下祷告四分之一小时、半小时，甚至一个小时，才意识到自己获得了comfort[待确认]、鼓励、灵魂的谦卑等；而且，在最初的十分钟、四分之一小时，甚至半小时里，我常常因思绪wandering[待确认]而备受煎熬，之后才真正开始祷告。

I scarcely ever suffer now in this way. For my heart being flourished by the truth, being brought into experimental fellowship with God, I speak to my Father, and to my Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it!) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word.

我现在几乎不再以这种方式受苦了。因为我的心被真理滋养，被带入与上帝的experimental fellowship[待确认]中，我与我的父亲和朋友（尽管我卑劣且不配）谈论祂在祂宝贵的话语中向我展示的事情。

It often now astonishes me that I did not sooner see this. In no book did I ever read about it. No public ministry ever brought the matter before me. No private communication with a brother stirred me up to this matter.

如今我常常感到惊讶，为何我没有早点意识到这一点。我从未在任何书中读到过这个。没有任何公开的事工向我提出过这个问题。也没有与弟兄的私下交流激发我思考这个问题。

And yet now, since God has taught me this point, it is as plain to me as anything, that the first thing the child of God has to do morning by morning is to obtain food for his inner man.

然而现在，自从上帝教导我这一点以来，对我来说再清楚不过了，上帝的儿女每天早晨首先要做的就是为他的内在人获取食粮。

As the outward man is not fit for work for any length of time except we take food, and as this is one of the first things we do in the morning, so it should be with the inner man. We should take food for that, as everyone must allow.

正如外在的人若不进食就无法长时间工作，而这是我们早晨做的第一件事之一，内在的人也应该如此。我们应该为内在的人提供食粮，这一点每个人都必须承认。

Now what is the food for the inner man? — not prayer but the Word of God; and here again not the simple reading of the Word of God so that it only passes through our minds, just as water runs through a pipe — but considering and meditating on what we read, pondering over it, and applying it to our hearts.

那么，内在人的食物是什么呢？——不是祷告，而是神的话语；在这里再次强调，不是简单地阅读神的话语，让它只是像水流过管道一样穿过我们的头脑——而是思考和默想我们所读的内容，深入思索，并将其应用到我们的心中。

When we pray, we speak to God. Now prayer, in order to be continued for any length of time in any other than a formal manner, requires, generally speaking, a measure of strength or godly desire. And the season, therefore, when this exercise of the soul can be most effectually performed, is after the inner man has been nourished by meditation on the Word of God, where we find our Father speaking to us, to encourage us, comfort us, instruct us, humble us, reprove us.

当我们祷告时，我们是在与神说话。现在，为了能够以非形式化的方式持续一段时间地祷告，通常需要一定程度的力量或敬虔的渴望。因此，当内在的人通过默想神的话语得到滋养后，这种灵魂的操练才能最有效地进行，在这里我们发现我们的天父在对我们说话，鼓励我们，安慰我们，指导我们，使我们谦卑，责备我们。

We may therefore profitably meditate on Scripture with God’s blessing, though we are ever so weak spiritually.

因此，即使我们在灵性上如此软弱，我们也可以在神的祝福下有益地默想圣经。

Nay, the weaker we are, the more we need meditation for the strengthening of our inner man. There is thus far less to be feared from wandering of mind, than if we give ourselves to prayer without having had previously time for meditation.

不，我们越是软弱，就越需要默想来加强我们的内在人。因此，相比于未经默想就直接祷告，我们更不用担心思想走神的问题。

I dwell so particularly on this point because of the immense spiritual profit and refreshment I am conscious of having derived from it myself, and I affectionately and solemnly beseech all my fellow believers to ponder this matter. By the blessing of God, I ascribe to this mode, the help and strength that I have had from God to pass in peace through deeper trials, than I had ever had before. And after having now above forty years tried this way, I can most fully, in the fear of God, commend it.

我之所以特别强调这一点，是因为我自己意识到从中获得了巨大的属灵益处和更新，我亲切而庄重地恳请所有的信徒同伴们思考这个问题。靠着神的祝福，我将这种方式归功于我从神那里得到的帮助和力量，使我能平安度过比以前更深的试炼。现在我已经尝试这种方法超过四十年了，我可以完全地、敬畏神地推荐它。

How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what it is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials, and the temptations of the day come upon one!