彼前一8　你们虽然没有见过祂，却是爱祂，如今虽不得看见，却因信入祂而欢腾，有说不出来、满有荣光的喜乐。

　　西三3　因为你们已经死了，你们的生命与基督一同藏在神里面。

　　〔愿〕神的儿女……认识神作工隐藏的性质。不要以为只有大的感动、大的异象、大的启示才是出于神的。神最确实的工作，乃是祂在我们这人的隐密处所作的。常常就是一点点的声音，或一点点的感动，微弱到很难分辨是否是我们自己的感想。这乃是神最厉害的活动。有时在我们里面最深处，隐约有一个很小的意念，或者说是一个感觉，一个声音，或一句话，在里面说，“那是你天然的生命；那属于十字架。”这些话微弱到好像不成话。但请你记得，这些几乎无法辨别的话指明神最积极的活动。你可能想，这不是神，这不过是我。但我向你保证，这是神最确定的话语和工作。在近两千年的召会历史中，神的召会就是由这样神圣的活动维持的。我们越事奉主，越住在祂里面，就越领悟神是一位太静默的神；祂静默到一个地步，人常常不觉得祂存在。祂所给我们那些最亲密的引导，都是很自然的，使我们几乎不觉得祂在引导我们，但我们就是受了引导；事情就发生了。神最重大的引导，通常都是借着神这样内里静默的活动而让我们得着的（译自CWWL一九五六年第二册，自隐的神，英文版）。

　　1 Pet. 1:8 Whom having not seen, you love; into whom though not seeing Him at present, yet believing, you exult with joy that is unspeakable and full of glory.

　　Col. 3:3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

　　[May] God's children...realize the hidden nature of His working. Do not think that only mighty influences, great visions, and tremendous revelations are of Him. God's surest work is done in the secret of our beings. Often it is just a slight whisper or a slight influence—so slight we can scarcely distinguish it from our own impressions. This is God's mightiest mode of activity. Sometimes from our innermost being comes a faint suggestion (or shall I call it a feeling, a voice, or words?) saying something like this: “That is your natural life; that belongs to the cross”—saying it in words that are scarcely words. But do please take note: these almost indefinable words are indications of God's most positive activity. You may reason: This is not God; it is just me. But let me assure you, this is His most definite speaking and working. It is such divine activity that has preserved the church throughout her history of nearly two thousand years. The more we serve the Lord and the more we abide in Him, the more we realize that God is a very quiet God, so quiet that His presence is often undetected. His most intimate way of guiding us is so natural that we scarcely perceive He is guiding us at all, yet somehow we have been led; something has happened. It is often by this quiet, inward activity of God that we receive our greatest guidances. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, “A God Who Hides Himself,” pp. 4-5)

　　当独生子来表明父，祂把父藏在人性生命里，并且是藏在一个“面貌憔悴”的人性生命，一个“无佳形威仪”的人性生命里（赛五二14，五三2）。祂来自无关紧要的加利利省，来自小城拿撒勒；犹太人都公认，那个地方并没有出过什么申言者或名人（约一46，七52）。所以当祂出来的时候，人难以相信神在祂里面，就是要信祂是神的申言者都不容易。可是神却藏在拿撒勒人耶稣里面。……这人是来自一个贫寒的家庭，长大了就作木匠，是一个非常平凡的木匠，一个微不足道的工人，直到祂三十岁。有谁能想到，无限的神就住在祂里面？

　　你若把圣经好好地读过，就看见神有一个脾气，就是不乐意显扬；祂不愿意在明处作事，祂喜欢在暗中作工。祂造了宇宙，祂就隐藏在宇宙中人所不知道的地方，以致人找不着祂。

　　愿我们都领悟，我们的主复活后给祂的跟从者主要的训练，就是叫他们认识祂是一位自隐的神。祂是在人的中间，却不给人看见；祂是在人的里面，却不给人察觉。

　　到彼得写他第一封书信时，他能说，“你们虽然没有见过祂，却是爱祂。”（彼前一8）这是一件奇妙的事。哪有一个人能爱一位他未曾看见的？……所信的和所爱的都是一位看不见的。

　　我们感觉最无能的时候，就是主最有力地与我们同在的时候。……不要盼望有大的异象或大的经历。不必盼望任何外面的事，因为自隐的神在你的生活中作工，并且正大大地作工。你的责任乃是与祂合作，回应祂在里面的声音，就是那“微小柔细的声音”，那声音好像不过是你自己在那里想的，你没有想到那会是主的声音。你必须对你里面最深处所感受的声音说阿们，因为自隐的神正在那里隐密地、不停地作工（译自CWWL一九五六年第二册，自隐的神，英文版）。

　　参读：自隐的神。

　　[When the] only begotten Son came for the very purpose of showing forth the Father, He hid Him in a human life—a human life whose “visage was marred,” a human life that had “no attracting form nor majesty” (Isa. 52:14; 53:2). And He came from Galilee, an insignificant province, and from the town of Nazareth, a small town of which it was said by the Jews that no prophet or person of repute ever came from there (John 1:46; 7:52). So when He appeared, people not only found it hard to believe that God was present in Him—they found it hard even to believe that He was a prophet of God. Yet God was hidden within Jesus of Nazareth.

　　This man belonged to a poor home and grew up to be a carpenter—a very ordinary carpenter, working in a very small way, until He was thirty. Whoever would have thought that He was indwelt by God, the infinite God?

　　If you study the Scriptures carefully, you will see that God has the kind of temperament that dislikes ostentation. He likes to work secretly rather than openly. He created the universe and then hid Himself in it, until we do not know where to find Him.

　　[May we] all realize that, since the resurrection of our Lord, the chief discipline for His followers has come along the line of knowing Him as a God who hides Himself. He is in the midst of men yet does not show Himself to men; He dwells within yet withholds the consciousness of His indwelling.

　　By the time [Peter] wrote his first Epistle,...he could say, “Whom having not seen, you love” (1:8). That is a marvelous thing. Where would you find a man who could love a fellow man he had never seen?...Faith and love are in an unseen One.

　　When we are most conscious of impotence, God is often most powerfully present....Do not set your expectation on some great vision or on some great experience. And do not expect anything outward, for the God who hides Himself is at work within your life, and He is working mightily. Your responsibility is to cooperate with Him by responding to His voice within—that “gentle, quiet voice,” that voice that seems so much a part of your own feelings that you scarcely recognize it as a voice at all. To that voice, registered in the deepest depths of your being, you must say Amen, for there, secretly and ceaselessly, the God who hides Himself is working. (CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, “A God Who Hides Himself,” pp. 5-6, 9-11)

　　Further Reading: CWWL, 1956, vol. 2, “A God Who Hides Himself”