創世記29:1-14

29:1 雅各起行，到了東方人之地，
29:2 看見田間有一口井，有三群羊臥在井旁；因為人飲羊群都是用那井裡的水。井口上的石頭是大的。
29:3 常有羊群在那裡聚集，牧人把石頭轉離井口飲羊，隨後又把石頭放在井口的原處。
29:4 雅各對牧人說：「弟兄們，你們是哪裡來的？」他們說：「我們是哈蘭來的。」
29:5 他問他們說：「拿鶴的孫子拉班，你們認識嗎？」他們說：「我們認識。」
29:6 雅各說：「他平安嗎？」他們說：「平安。看哪，他女兒拉結領著羊來了。」
29:7 雅各說：「日頭還高，不是羊群聚集的時候，你們不如飲羊，再去放一放。」
29:8 他們說：「我們不能，必等羊群聚齊，人把石頭轉離井口才可飲羊。」
29:9 雅各正和他們說話的時候，拉結領著她父親的羊來了，因為那些羊是她牧放的。
29:10 雅各看見母舅拉班的女兒拉結和母舅拉班的羊群，就上前把石頭轉離井口，飲他母舅拉班的羊群。
29:11 雅各與拉結親嘴，就放聲而哭。
29:12 雅各告訴拉結，自己是她父親的外甥，是利百加的兒子，拉結就跑去告訴她父親。
29:13 拉班聽見外甥雅各的信息，就跑去迎接，抱著他，與他親嘴，領他到自己的家。雅各將一切的情由告訴拉班。
29:14 拉班對他說：「你實在是我的骨肉。」雅各就和他同住了一個月。

Then Jacob continued on his journey and came to the land of the eastern peoples. ² There he saw a well in the open country, with three flocks of sheep lying near it because the flocks were watered from that well. The stone over the mouth of the well was large. ³ When all the flocks were gathered there, the shepherds would roll the stone away from the well’s mouth and water the sheep. Then they would return the stone to its place over the mouth of the well.

⁴ Jacob asked the shepherds, “My brothers, where are you from?”
“We’re from Harran,” they replied.
⁵ He said to them, “Do you know Laban, Nahor’s grandson?”
“Yes, we know him,” they answered.
⁶ Then Jacob asked them, “Is he well?”
“Yes, he is,” they said, “and here comes his daughter Rachel with the sheep.”
⁷ “Look,” he said, “the sun is still high; it is not time for the flocks to be gathered. Water the sheep and take them back to pasture.”
⁸ “We can’t,” they replied, “until all the flocks are gathered and the stone has been rolled away from the mouth of the well. Then we will water the sheep.”
⁹ While he was still talking with them, Rachel came with her father’s sheep, for she was a shepherd. ¹⁰ When Jacob saw Rachel daughter of his uncle Laban, and Laban’s sheep, he went over and rolled the stone away from the mouth of the well and watered his uncle’s sheep. ¹¹ Then Jacob kissed Rachel and began to weep aloud. ¹² He had told Rachel that he was a relative of her father and a son of Rebekah. So she ran and told her father.
¹³ As soon as Laban heard the news about Jacob, his sister’s son, he hurried to meet him. He embraced him and kissed him and brought him to his home, and there Jacob told him all these things. ¹⁴ Then Laban said to him, “You are my own flesh and blood.”

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    雅各和舅舅拉班見面，是要告訴我們上帝對雅各的保守，使他能平安回到母親的娘家，也開始他生命的重要階段。

    雖然這是個人的事蹟，但是上帝仍然看重，要我們從其中知道上帝是眷顧每一個屬於祂的人，不管大事或小事，在祂的眼中都是重要的事情。

    我們的一生似乎也是平淡無奇，但是都有上帝同在，見變成美好了！這也是上帝讓我們看雅各的生平，也想到上帝與我們每時每刻的同在之恩惠！

箴言24:23-34

24:23 以下也是智慧人的箴言：審判時看人情面是不好的。
24:24 對惡人說「你是義人」的，這人萬民必咒詛，列邦必憎惡。
24:25 責備惡人的，必得喜悅；美好的福也必臨到他。
24:26 應對正直的，猶如與人親嘴。
24:27 你要在外頭預備工料，在田間辦理整齊，然後建造房屋。
24:28 不可無故作見證陷害鄰舍，也不可用嘴欺騙人。
24:29 不可說：人怎樣待我，我也怎樣待他；我必照他所行的報復他。
24:30 我經過懶惰人的田地、無知人的葡萄園，
24:31 荊棘長滿了地皮，刺草遮蓋了田面，石牆也坍塌了。
24:32 我看見就留心思想；我看著就領了訓誨。
24:33 再睡片時，打盹片時，抱著手躺臥片時，
24:34 你的貧窮就必如強盜速來，你的缺乏彷彿拿兵器的人來到。

²³ These also are sayings of the wise:

To show partiality in judging is not good:
²⁴ Whoever says to the guilty, “You are innocent,”
    will be cursed by peoples and denounced by nations.
²⁵ But it will go well with those who convict the guilty,
    and rich blessing will come on them.

²⁶ An honest answer
    is like a kiss on the lips.

²⁷ Put your outdoor work in order
    and get your fields ready;
    after that, build your house.

²⁸ Do not testify against your neighbor without cause—
    would you use your lips to mislead?
²⁹ Do not say, “I’ll do to them as they have done to me;
    I’ll pay them back for what they did.”

³⁰ I went past the field of a sluggard,
    past the vineyard of someone who has no sense;
³¹ thorns had come up everywhere,
    the ground was covered with weeds,
    and the stone wall was in ruins.
³² I applied my heart to what I observed
    and learned a lesson from what I saw:
³³ A little sleep, a little slumber,
    a little folding of the hands to rest—
³⁴ and poverty will come on you like a thief
    and scarcity like an armed man.

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    讀到這段箴言，讓我們認識到智慧的人不僅是敬畏上帝，更要學會為自己的生命品質負責，讓自己的財力豐富，如此不盡可以見證主的同在，更可以使人對信靠上帝有興趣。

    所以在這段經文中，充滿怎樣成為一個富有的人的教導，讓人學習成為一個有成就的人。雖然「成功神學」讓人詬病，但是我們也不要讓自己窮苦潦倒，我們要殷勤的工作，要享受我們勞碌所得的，這就是上帝的恩惠了！

    親愛弟兄姐妹，讓我們好好為我們的人生的成就努力吧！這是上帝給我們的恩召，我們絕對不能輕忽這事！

創世記28:16-22

28:16 雅各睡醒了，說：「耶和華真在這裡，我竟不知道！」
28:17 就懼怕，說：「這地方何等可畏！這不是別的，乃是上帝的殿，也是天的門。」
28:18 雅各清早起來，把所枕的石頭立作柱子，澆油在上面。
28:19 他就給那地方起名叫伯特利（就是上帝殿的意思）；但那地方起先名叫路斯。
28:20 雅各許願說：「上帝若與我同在，在我所行的路上保佑我，又給我食物吃，衣服穿，
28:21 使我平平安安地回到我父親的家，我就必以耶和華為我的上帝。
28:22 我所立為柱子的石頭也必作上帝的殿；凡你所賜給我的，我必將十分之一獻給你。」

¹⁶ When Jacob awoke from his sleep, he thought, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I was not aware of it.” ¹⁷ He was afraid and said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven.”
¹⁸ Early the next morning Jacob took the stone he had placed under his head and set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. ¹⁹ He called that place Bethel,^[e] though the city used to be called Luz.
²⁰ Then Jacob made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me and will watch over me on this journey I am taking and will give me food to eat and clothes to wear ²¹ so that I return safely to my father’s household, then the Lord^[f] will be my God ²² and^[g] this stone that I have set up as a pillar will be God’s house, and of all that you give me I will give you a tenth.”

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    雅各是因為上帝向他顯現、向他啟示，他才真正認識上帝，敬拜上帝、遵上帝為大，並且向上帝許願：「上帝若與我同在，在我所行的路上保佑我，又給我食物吃，衣服穿，使我平平安安地回到我父親的家，我就必以耶和華為我的上帝。我所立為柱子的石頭也必作上帝的殿；凡你所賜給我的，我必將十分之一獻給你。」

   可見信仰是人被上帝所引導與賜福所產生的，不是人主動要信靠上帝！也因此，若沒有上帝的恩典，人是無法經歷到上帝在他身上做為！也因為這樣，不是高舉人的良善、也不是高舉人的信心，而是要高舉上帝的憐憫與恩典！

    我們常常落入自我中心的迷思，以為上帝也是因為我們信靠與敬畏才賜福給我們。其實應該反過來，是上帝賜福我們、引導我們，讓我們透過在基督的恩典，我們才能夠信靠與敬畏上帝，才能成為義人！

創世記28:10-15

28:10 雅各出了別是巴，向哈蘭走去；
28:11 到了一個地方，因為太陽落了，就在那裡住宿，便拾起那地方的一塊石頭枕在頭下，在那裡躺臥睡了，
28:12 夢見一個梯子立在地上，梯子的頭頂著天，有上帝的使者在梯子上，上去下來。
28:13 耶和華站在梯子以上（或譯：站在他旁邊），說：「我是耶和華─你祖亞伯拉罕的上帝，也是以撒的上帝；我要將你現在所躺臥之地賜給你和你的後裔。
28:14 你的後裔必像地上的塵沙那樣多，必向東西南北開展；地上萬族必因你和你的後裔得福。
28:15 我也與你同在。你無論往哪裡去，我必保佑你，領你歸回這地，總不離棄你，直到我成全了向你所應許的。」

¹⁰ Jacob left Beersheba and set out for Harran. ¹¹ When he reached a certain place, he stopped for the night because the sun had set. Taking one of the stones there, he put it under his head and lay down to sleep. ¹² He had a dream in which he saw a stairway resting on the earth, with its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. ¹³ There above it^[c] stood the Lord, and he said: “I am the Lord, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you are lying. ¹⁴ Your descendants will be like the dust of the earth, and you will spread out to the west and to the east, to the north and to the south. All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring.^{[d] 15} I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you until I have done what I have promised you.”

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    有許多人說上帝的應許不一定會成就，要看你努不努力，或是你相不相信！但是，這樣說起來好像上帝的做為是受人的限制，因為看人願不願意持守某些條件，如同上面說的！

    其實上帝的應許是必定成就，不在乎你有沒有努力、或是有沒有堅信，因為上帝有主動權，祂要施恩給誰就施恩給誰，是沒有條件的、沒有限制的！反倒是人受了恩惠之後，要想到上帝是如此的看重，我們必須活出與自己所蒙的恩相稱的生命！

    因此，是上帝的恩典改變我們、陶造我們；不是我們改變或努力來換取上帝的恩典。一切都是上帝慈愛與公義的做為，使我們的生命真正獲得改變！