上帝永远值得信靠。

Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God. 1 John 4:1

一切的灵，你们不可都信，总要试验那些灵是出于上帝的不是。-约翰一书4章1节

“Listen!” my wife said to me over the phone. “There’s a monkey in our yard!” She held up the phone so I could hear. And yes, it sounded just like a monkey. Which is weird, because the nearest wild monkey was 2,000 miles away.

妻子在电话中对我说：“听！院子里有一只猴子！”她拿起话筒让我仔细听，还真像是猴子的声音。这事有点蹊跷，因为离我们家3000公里以外才会有野生猴群出没。

Later, my father-in-law burst our bubble. “That’s a barred owl,” he explained. Reality was not what it had seemed.

后来，我岳父一语惊醒梦中人，他说：“这是猫头鹰。”的确，有时耳闻目睹的也未必真实。

When King Sennacherib’s armies had Judah’s King Hezekiah trapped inside Jerusalem’s walls, the Assyrians thought victory was theirs. Reality proved different. Although the Assyrian field commander used smooth words and pretended to speak for God, the Lord had His hand on His people.

当亚述王西拿基立派遣大军，将希西家王围困在耶路撒冷城内时，亚述人自以为胜利在望，但至终却事与愿违。虽然亚述的将军用似是而非的言语，假藉上帝的名义说话，但上帝保护祂的子民。

“Have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the ?” the commander asked (2 Kings 18:25). As he tried to entice Jerusalem to surrender, he even said, “Choose life and not death!” (v. 32).

亚述的将军问道：“现在我上来攻击毁灭这地，岂没有耶和华的意思吗？”（列王纪下18章25节）。他怂恿耶路撒冷全城投降，甚至说：“好使你们存活，不至于死。”（32节）

That sounds like something God would say. But the prophet Isaiah told the Israelites the true words of the Lord. “[Sennacherib] will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here,” God said. “I will defend this city and save it” (19:32–34; Isaiah 37:35). That very night “the angel of the ” destroyed the Assyrians (v. 35).

这听起来像是上帝所说的。但先知以赛亚告诉以色列民上帝真实的话语：“[西拿基立]必不得来到这城，也不在这里射箭。”“[耶和华]必保护拯救这城”（19章32-34节；以赛亚书37章35节）。当晚，“耶和华的使者”毁灭了亚述大军（36节）。

From time to time, we’ll encounter smooth-talking people who “advise” us while denying God’s power. That isn’t God’s voice. He speaks to us through His Word. He guides us with His Spirit. His hand is on those who follow Him, and He will never abandon us.

有时，我们会遇到巧言如簧的人，看似对我们是“好言相劝”，但却是否认上帝的权能。这绝不是上帝的声音。上帝会藉着圣经对我们说话，以圣灵引导我们。我们若跟随上帝，祂的手就会护庇我们，而且祂永不离弃我们。

亲爱的主，求祢帮助我们能在生活中所听到的众多不同的声音中，认出祢的声音来。主啊，帮助我们愿意顺服祢，胜过我们的任何欲望或者从别人而来的任何压力。

2 Kings 19:29-37  NIV

19 “This will be the sign for you, Hezekiah: “This year you will eat what grows by itself, and the second year what springs from that. But in the third year sow and reap, plant vineyards and eat their fruit. 30 Once more a remnant of the kingdom of Judah will take root below and bear fruit above. 31 For out of Jerusalem will come a remnant, and out of Mount Zion a band of survivors. “The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. 32 “Therefore this is what the Lord says concerning the king of Assyria: “‘He will not enter this city or shoot an arrow here.He will not come before it with shield or build a siege ramp against it. 33 By the way that he came he will return; he will not enter this city, declares the Lord. 34 I will defend this city and save it, for my sake and for the sake of David my servant.’” 35 That night the angel of the Lord went out and put to death a hundred and eighty-five thousand in the Assyrian camp. When the people got up the next morning—there were all the dead bodies! 36 So Sennacherib king of Assyria broke camp and withdrew. He returned to Nineveh and stayed there. 37 One day, while he was worshiping in the temple of his god Nisrok, his sons Adrammelek and Sharezer killed him with the sword, and they escaped to the land of Ararat. And Esarhaddon his son succeeded him as king.

列王纪下 19:29-37 

19 “以色列人哪，我赐你们一个证据：你们今年要吃自生的，明年也要吃自长的，至于后年，你们要耕种收割，栽植葡萄园，吃其中的果子。 30 犹大家所逃脱余剩的，仍要往下扎根，向上结果。 31 必有余剩的民从耶路撒冷而出，必有逃脱的人从锡安山而来。耶和华的热心必成就这事。 32 所以耶和华论亚述王如此说：他必不得来到这城，也不在这里射箭，不得拿盾牌到城前，也不筑垒攻城。 33 他从哪条路来，必从哪条路回去，必不得来到这城。这是耶和华说的。 34 因我为自己的缘故，又为我仆人大卫的缘故，必保护拯救这城。” 35 当夜，耶和华的使者出去，在亚述营中杀了十八万五千人。清早有人起来，一看，都是死尸了。 36 亚述王西拿基立就拔营回去，住在尼尼微。 37 一日，在他的神尼斯洛庙里叩拜，他儿子亚得米勒和沙利色用刀杀了他，就逃到亚拉腊地。他儿子以撒哈顿接续他做王。

整理：于姊妹