神百姓的禱文
尼希米記九章5至8節,32至38節
5利未人耶書亞、甲篾、巴尼、哈沙尼、示利比、荷第雅、示巴尼、毗他希雅說:你們要站起來稱頌耶和華─你們的神,永世無盡。耶和華啊,你榮耀之名是應當稱頌的!超乎一切稱頌和讚美。
6你,惟獨你是耶和華!你造了天和天上的天,並天上的萬象,地和地上的萬物,海和海中所有的;這一切都是你所保存的。天軍也都敬拜你。
7你是耶和華神,曾揀選亞伯蘭,領他出迦勒底的吾珥,給他改名叫亞伯拉罕。
8你見他在你面前心裡誠實,就與他立約,應許把迦南人、赫人、亞摩利人、比利洗人、耶布斯人、革迦撒人之地賜給他的後裔,且應驗了你的話,因為你是公義的。
32我們的神啊,你是至大、至能、至可畏、守約施慈愛的神。我們的君王、首領、祭司、先知、列祖,和你的眾民,從亞述列王的時候直到今日所遭遇的苦難,現在求你不要以為小。
33在一切臨到我們的事上,你卻是公義的;因你所行的是誠實,我們所做的是邪惡。
34我們的君王、首領、祭司、列祖都不遵守你的律法,不聽從你的誡命和你警戒他們的話。
35他們在本國裡沾你大恩的時候,在你所賜給他們這廣大肥美之地上不事奉你,也不轉離他們的惡行。
36我們現今作了奴僕;至於你所賜給我們列祖享受其上的土產,並美物之地,看哪,我們在這地上作了奴僕!
37這地許多出產歸了列王,就是你因我們的罪所派轄制我們的。他們任意轄制我們的身體和牲畜,我們遭了大難。
38因這一切的事,我們立確實的約,寫在冊上。我們的首領、利未人,和祭司都簽了名。
信息分享
這是一篇偉大的禱文。我們由第5節開始,一直讀完這章的整篇禱文,一定使我們有所得益。
我們在此特別指出禱文中的幾個重點。第一,神的諾言。第8節尾這樣說:「且應驗了你的話,因為你是公義的。」其實,整篇禱文都是說到神怎樣對待祂的百姓。他們一次又一次地對神不忠,但神卻一次又一次地拯救他們脫離仇敵的手。祂雖然懲罰他們的罪,但懲罰中卻總顯出慈愛。
禱文概述了人色列民的經歷。當中有許多動人的經節。留意第27尾至28節,以及第30至31節。它們對神的慈愛和憐憫作出了淋漓盡致的描述。
此刻,百姓因深深體會神的美善,所以便向祂許下承諾,答應必遵照祂的心意而行。請再讀第38節。你是否願意公開簽訂一份約書,承諾神必遵照祂的心意而行?在詩篇一一六篇14節,詩人聲言要在眾民面前向神還他的願。詩人是真心許願,他立定心志將來要還願。
你向神許過甚麼願?你有否忘記呢?神是不會忘記的。神信實守約,祂也希望你能同樣守信。
反思:千萬別向神輕率許願,許願必須還願。
THE PRAYER OF GOD'S PEOPLE
Nehemiah 9:5-8 and 32-38
5 And the Levites, Jeshua, Kadmiel, Bani, Hashabniah, Sherebiah, Hodijah, Shebaniah, and Pethahiah, said:
“Stand up and bless the Lord your God Forever and ever!
“Blessed be Your glorious name,
Which is exalted above all blessing and praise!
6 You alone are the Lord;
You have made heaven,
The heaven of heavens, with all their host,
The earth and everything on it,
The seas and all that is in them,
And You preserve them all.
The host of heaven worships You.
7 “You are the Lord God,
Who chose Abram,
And brought him out of Ur of the Chaldeans,
And gave him the name Abraham;
8 You found his heart faithful before You,
And made a covenant with him
To give the land of the Canaanites,
The Hittites, the Amorites,
The Perizzites, the Jebusites,
And the Girgashites—
To give it to his descendants.
You have performed Your words,
For You are righteous.
32 “Now therefore, our God,
The great, the mighty, and awesome God,
Who keeps covenant and mercy:
Do not let all the trouble seem small before You
That has come upon us,
Our kings and our princes,
Our priests and our prophets,
Our fathers and on all Your people,
From the days of the kings of Assyria until this day.
33 However You are just in all that has befallen us;
For You have dealt faithfully,
But we have done wickedly.
34 Neither our kings nor our princes,
Our priests nor our fathers,
Have kept Your law,
Nor heeded Your commandments and Your testimonies,
With which You testified against them.
35 For they have not served You in their kingdom,
Or in the many good things that You gave them,
Or in the large and rich land which You set before them;
Nor did they turn from their wicked works.
36 “Here we are, servants today!
And the land that You gave to our fathers,
To eat its fruit and its bounty,
Here we are, servants in it!
37 And it yields much increase to the kings
You have set over us,
Because of our sins;
Also they have dominion over our bodies and our cattle
At their pleasure;
And we are in great distress.
38 “And because of all this,
We make a sure covenant and write it;
Our leaders, our Levites, and our priests seal it.”
Message
This is a magnificent prayer. It would do you good to read the whole of it, starting with verse 5 and going on to the end of the chapter.
Notice several things in this prayer. First, the faithfulness of God. The last part of verse 8 says, 'Thou hast fulfilled the promise for thou art righteous. At the same time, all through the prayer there is the story of God's dealings with his people. They had been unfaithful to him so many times, but time and time again he had delivered them out of their enemies' hands. He had punished them for their sins, but had always done it in love.
It is a clear summary of the story of the Children of Israel. There are some beautiful verses in it. Notice the last parts of verse 27 and verse 28, and also verses 30-31. Aren't they a wonderful description of the love and compassion of God?
Now in the light of all God's goodnesses, the people promise him that they will do what he wants them to do. Read verse 38 again. Would you be willing to publicly sign a letter to God saying you will always try to do what he wants? Do we realise how very serious it is to make God a promise? In Psalm 116:14 the Psalmist said he would pay his vows to the Lord in the presence of all his people. He meant what he had promised and he was determined to fulfil it.
What promises have you made to God? Have you forgotten them? God hasn't. God is always faithful to his promises and he wants us to be just as faithful to ours.
A THOUGHT:
Never promise God what you are not willing to fulfil.

