A Lesson From Nature

从自然学功课

If God provides for the birds, how much more will He provide for you.

上帝如果连飞鸟都养活，祂所赐你的又是何等的多呢。

I can imagine our Lord standing on a hillside in Galilee, looking down over the beautiful north end of the sea, the breeze rippling across the water, the sun bright in the sky. The people were all gathered at His feet. As He was speaking to them, some birds might have flown across the sky.

我可以想象到我们的主站在加利利的山坡上，俯视着美丽的大海北端，微风在水面上荡漾，阳光在天空中熠熠生辉。人们都聚集在他的脚下。当他跟他们说话时，有些鸟儿可能飞过天空。

Our Lord gives life to every bird of the sky and also sustains each one. He doesn’t say to the birds, “I have given you life; now you figure out how to keep it.” And birds don’t get together and say, “We have to come up with a strategy to keep ourselves alive.” Birds have no self-consciousness, no cognitive processes, no ability to reason. But God has given them an instinct so that they have a divine capacity to find what is necessary to live. God doesn’t just create life—He also sustains it.

我们的主赐生命给每只飞鸟，并维持它们的生命。祂并没有对鸟说：“我给了你生命，现在自己想法维持生命。”鸟也没有聚集在一起说：“我们要一起想法来存活。”鸟没有自我意识，也无自我认知，不懂得推理。但是上帝给它们本能，让它们知道获取生命的必需。上帝并不只是创造生命--祂还保守生命。

In Matthew 6:26 Jesus asked the people, “Are you not worth much more than [the birds]?” He was arguing from the lesser to the greater. No bird was ever created in the image of God or designed to be a joint-heir with Christ throughout eternity. Jesus was saying, “If God sustains the life of a bird (the lesser), don’t you think He will take care of you (the greater)?” God’s provision, of course, is no excuse for man’s laziness. A bird has to work for its food, and you have to work for yours. That’s because God has designed that man should eat bread by the sweat of his face (cf. Gen. 3:19). If you don’t work, you don’t eat (cf. 2 Thess. 3:10). Just as God provides for the bird through its instinct, so God will provide for you through your effort.

在马太福音6：26中耶稣问众人：“你们不比飞鸟贵重得多吗？”祂从小论到大。没有任何鸟是按照上帝的形象造的，也没有任何一只鸟是要在永恒里与基督一同继承产业的。耶稣说：“如果上帝养活一只飞鸟（微小），难道祂不养活你（重要）吗？”当然，上帝的供应，不是人们懒惰的借口。一只飞鸟要去觅食，我们也当做工维生。这是因为上帝已定意人们要靠汗水而得食（创世记3：19）。如果不工作，就没有食物（帖撒罗尼迦后书3：10）。就像上帝通过飞鸟的本能供应它一样，上帝也通过我们的付出供应我们的所需。