許願必還願
詩篇一一六篇
1我愛耶和華，因為他聽了我的聲音和我的懇求。
2他既向我側耳，我一生要求告他。
3死亡的繩索纏繞我；陰間的痛苦抓住我；我遭遇患難愁苦。
4那時，我便求告耶和華的名，說：耶和華啊，求你救我的靈魂！
5耶和華有恩惠，有公義；我們的神以憐憫為懷。
6耶和華保護愚人；我落到卑微的地步，他救了我。
7我的心哪！你要仍歸安樂，因為耶和華用厚恩待你。
8主啊，你救我的命免了死亡，救我的眼免了流淚，救我的腳免了跌倒。
9我要在耶和華面前行活人之路。
10我因信，所以如此說話；我受了極大的困苦。
11我曾急促地說：人都是說謊的！
12我拿甚麼報答耶和華向我所賜的一切厚恩？
13我要舉起救恩的杯，稱揚耶和華的名。
14我要在他眾民面前向耶和華還我的願。
15在耶和華眼中，看聖民之死極為寶貴。
16耶和華啊，我真是你的僕人；我是你的僕人，是你婢女的兒子。你已經解開我的綁索。
17我要以感謝為祭獻給你，又要求告耶和華的名。
18-19我要在他眾民面前，在耶和華殿的院內，在耶路撒冷當中，向耶和華還我的願。你們要讚美耶和華！
信息分享
詩人顯然經過了類似的危難經歷。他在第3和4節告訴我們，他遭遇極大的患難；於是，他便求告神(4節)，並向神許願，承諾神只要拯救他，他便會向神還願。神最終真的拯救了他；因此，詩人不禁要問：「我拿甚麼報答神向我所賜的一切厚恩呢？」
結果，詩人立志要向眾民傳講神的作為，並且要向神還願。他可能曾經向神許願，他若得蒙拯救，便會獻上祭物。他知道，如今是時候要立即向神還願了。而且，他是懷著一顆快樂和感恩的心去向神還願；請看，他為全詩作結的一句話，就是：「哈利路亞！讚美神！」
你如果曾經向神許願的話，後來有沒有如實地還願呢？你有沒有作神的好管家，小心管理神賜給你一切東西呢？例如，你有沒有把所得的十分之一，甘心樂意地奉獻給神？太多基督徒把當獻的金錢保留起來，以致教會出現財政不敷。要是神的百姓都把神當得的歸給神，我們的教會和宣教機構就不會財政緊張了。
神將百物厚賜給你，你當如何報答神呢？你向神所許的願，究竟有沒有如實地還願呢？
但願我們像詩人一樣，「我要在他眾民面前……向耶和華還我的願。」
牢記：
神並非看你向祂奉獻了多少，而是在奉獻後你留下了多少。
BEING HONEST WITH GOD
Psalm 116
1 I love the LORD, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
2 Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
3 The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
4 Then I called upon the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!”
5 Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
6 The LORD preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.
7 Return to your rest, O my soul,
For the LORD has dealt bountifully with you.
8 For You have delivered my soul from death,
My eyes from tears,
And my feet from falling.
9 I will walk before the LORD
In the land of the living.
10 I believed, therefore I spoke,
“I am greatly afflicted.”
11 I said in my haste,
“All men are liars.”
12 What shall I render to the LORD
For all His benefits toward me?
13 I will take up the cup of salvation,
And call upon the name of the LORD.
14 I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people.
15 Precious in the sight of the LORD
Is the death of His saints.
16 O LORD, truly I am Your servant;
I am Your servant, the son of Your maidservant;
You have loosed my bonds.
17 I will offer to You the sacrifice of thanksgiving,
And will call upon the name of the LORD.
18 I will pay my vows to the LORD
Now in the presence of all His people,
19 In the courts of the LORD’s house,
In the midst of you, O Jerusalem. Praise the LORD!
Message
The Psalmist apparently must have been through a similar situation. In verse 3 and in verse 8 he tells us what deep suffering had come upon him. Then he cried unto God (v.4) and promised that he would do certain things if God delivered him. God did what he asked. Then the Psalmist's question was: How can I repay the Lord for all his goodness?
He decided that he must publicly tell all the people what God had done and he must do what he had promised God when he was still in desperate trouble. It could be that he had said he would give God certain offerings or gifts and he knew that nowwas the time to fulfill his promise. He does it in a very happy grateful spirit. In fact he closes that Psalm with one great shout, 'Hallelujah!' - Praise the Lord.
Are you careful to give God what you have promised? Are you a good steward of what he has given you? God asks, for example, for the first one-tenth of all that he gives to us. Too many Christians are holding back on giving that tenth to God and our churches are suffering because of it. If God's people gave to God all that is due to him, there would be no lack in the finances of our churches or our missionary societies.
What are you doing with all God has given you. Is there anything you have promised God which you are still holding on to?
What did the Psalmist say, 'I will fulfill my vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people'.
REMEMBER:
God looks not at what you give but at what you have left after you have given.