许愿必还愿
诗篇一一六篇
1我爱耶和华，因为他听了我的声音和我的恳求。
2他既向我侧耳，我一生要求告他。
3死亡的绳索缠绕我；阴间的痛苦抓住我；我遭遇患难愁苦。
4那时，我便求告耶和华的名，说：耶和华啊，求你救我的灵魂！
5耶和华有恩惠，有公义；我们的神以怜悯为怀。
6耶和华保护愚人；我落到卑微的地步，他救了我。
7我的心哪！你要仍归安乐，因为耶和华用厚恩待你。
8主啊，你救我的命免了死亡，救我的眼免了流泪，救我的脚免了跌倒。
9我要在耶和华面前行活人之路。
10我因信，所以如此说话；我受了极大的困苦。
11我曾急促地说：人都是说谎的！
12我拿甚么报答耶和华向我所赐的一切厚恩？
13我要举起救恩的杯，称扬耶和华的名。
14我要在他众民面前向耶和华还我的愿。
15在耶和华眼中，看圣民之死极为宝贵。
16耶和华啊，我真是你的仆人；我是你的仆人，是你婢女的儿子。你已经解开我的绑索。
17我要以感谢为祭献给你，又要求告耶和华的名。
18-19我要在他众民面前，在耶和华殿的院内，在耶路撒冷当中，向耶和华还我的愿。你们要赞美耶和华！
信息分享
诗人显然经过了类似的危难经历。他在第3和4节告诉我们，他遭遇极大的患难；于是，他便求告神(4节)，并向神许愿，承诺神只要拯救他，他便会向神还愿。神最终真的拯救了他；因此，诗人不禁要问：「我拿甚么报答神向我所赐的一切厚恩呢？」
结果，诗人立志要向众民传讲神的作为，并且要向神还愿。他可能曾经向神许愿，他若得蒙拯救，便会献上祭物。他知道，如今是时候要立即向神还愿了。而且，他是怀着一颗快乐和感恩的心去向神还愿；请看，他为全诗作结的一句话，就是：「哈利路亚！赞美神！」
你如果曾经向神许愿的话，后来有没有如实地还愿呢？你有没有作神的好管家，小心管理神赐给你一切东西呢？例如，你有没有把所得的十分之一，甘心乐意地奉献给神？太多基督徒把当献的金钱保留起来，以致教会出现财政不敷。要是神的百姓都把神当得的归给神，我们的教会和宣教机构就不会财政紧张了。
神将百物厚赐给你，你当如何报答神呢？你向神所许的愿，究竟有没有如实地还愿呢？
但愿我们像诗人一样，「我要在他众民面前……向耶和华还我的愿。」
牢记：
神并非看你向祂奉献了多少，而是在奉献后你留下了多少。
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.