神百姓的祷文
尼希米记九章5至8节,32至38节
5利未人耶书亚、甲篾、巴尼、哈沙尼、示利比、荷第雅、示巴尼、毗他希雅说:你们要站起来称颂耶和华─你们的神,永世无尽。耶和华啊,你荣耀之名是应当称颂的!超乎一切称颂和赞美。
6你,惟独你是耶和华!你造了天和天上的天,并天上的万象,地和地上的万物,海和海中所有的;这一切都是你所保存的。天军也都敬拜你。
7你是耶和华神,曾拣选亚伯兰,领他出迦勒底的吾珥,给他改名叫亚伯拉罕。
8你见他在你面前心里诚实,就与他立约,应许把迦南人、赫人、亚摩利人、比利洗人、耶布斯人、革迦撒人之地赐给他的后裔,且应验了你的话,因为你是公义的。
32我们的神啊,你是至大、至能、至可畏、守约施慈爱的神。我们的君王、首领、祭司、先知、列祖,和你的众民,从亚述列王的时候直到今日所遭遇的苦难,现在求你不要以为小。
33在一切临到我们的事上,你却是公义的;因你所行的是诚实,我们所做的是邪恶。
34我们的君王、首领、祭司、列祖都不遵守你的律法,不听从你的诫命和你警戒他们的话。
35他们在本国里沾你大恩的时候,在你所赐给他们这广大肥美之地上不事奉你,也不转离他们的恶行。
36我们现今作了奴仆;至于你所赐给我们列祖享受其上的土产,并美物之地,看哪,我们在这地上作了奴仆!
37这地许多出产归了列王,就是你因我们的罪所派辖制我们的。他们任意辖制我们的身体和牲畜,我们遭了大难。
38因这一切的事,我们立确实的约,写在册上。我们的首领、利未人,和祭司都签了名。
信息分享
这是一篇伟大的祷文。我们由第5节开始,一直读完这章的整篇祷文,一定使我们有所得益。
我们在此特别指出祷文中的几个重点。第一,神的诺言。第8节尾这样说:「且应验了你的话,因为你是公义的。」其实,整篇祷文都是说到神怎样对待祂的百姓。他们一次又一次地对神不忠,但神却一次又一次地拯救他们脱离仇敌的手。祂虽然惩罚他们的罪,但惩罚中却总显出慈爱。
祷文概述了人色列民的经历。当中有许多动人的经节。留意第27尾至28节,以及第30至31节。它们对神的慈爱和怜悯作出了淋漓尽致的描述。
此刻,百姓因深深体会神的美善,所以便向祂许下承诺,答应必遵照祂的心意而行。请再读第38节。你是否愿意公开签订一份约书,承诺神必遵照祂的心意而行?在诗篇一一六篇14节,诗人声言要在众民面前向神还他的愿。诗人是真心许愿,他立定心志将来要还愿。
你向神许过甚么愿?你有否忘记呢?神是不会忘记的。神信实守约,祂也希望你能同样守信。
反思:千万别向神轻率许愿,许愿必须还愿。
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.

