从天上赐下的复兴
绝望的人

经文
诗篇一四三1-12
1(大卫的诗。)耶和华啊,求你听我的祷告,留心听我的恳求,凭你的信实和公义应允我。
2求你不要审问仆人;因为在你面前,凡活着的人没有一个是义的。
3原来仇敌逼迫我,将我打倒在地,使我住在幽暗之处,像死了许久的人一样。
4所以,我的灵在我里面发昏;我的心在我里面凄惨。
5我追想古时之日,思想你的一切作为,默念你手的工作。
6我向你举手;我的心渴想你,如干旱之地盼雨一样。(细拉)
7耶和华啊,求你速速应允我!我心神耗尽!不要向我掩面,免得我像那些下坑的人一样。
8求你使我清晨得听你慈爱之言,因我倚靠你;求你使我知道当行的路,因我的心仰望你。
9耶和华啊,求你救我脱离我的仇敌!我往你那里藏身。
10求你指教我遵行你的旨意,因你是我的神。你的灵本为善;求你引我到平坦之地。
11耶和华啊,求你为你的名将我救活,凭你的公义,将我从患难中领出来,
12凭你的慈爱剪除我的仇敌,灭绝一切苦待我的人,因我是你的仆人。
信息分享
让我们继续来思想「复兴祷告」的第六个特点──属灵的绝望。二十世纪一位重要的神学家卡尔巴特(Karl Barth)曾经说过:「除非我们好像那些绝望的人那样读圣经,否则我们并没有正确地阅读圣经。」我认为他的意思是,除非我们懂得在属灵上深深渴望神,否则我们不能体会圣经所描述的人物他们内心的渴求。
我在想,你读今天的诗篇时,心里有没有感受到诗人的那种绝望?鲁益思(C.S. Lewis)在评论这首诗篇的时候,说:「开始的十一节是在令人流泪的张力中写成的。诗人明显是在极度的绝望中。」当然,诗人在这里祈求个人复兴而不是国家复兴,但我们所要掌握的原则是:绝望的祷告带来有力和正面的结果。
请容许我再次向你提出一个问题:你对周围的道德和属灵情况有没有感到绝望,以致你愿意花几天的时间来祷告和禁食呢?大部分人对禁食的想法的回应是:「唔,事情还没有绝望到需要那么做的地步!」有一句古老的话是这样说的:「绝望的处境需要孤注一掷的措施。」我不知道你怎么样看世界的状况,但我明显感到事情已经到了绝望的地步。只有当世界的绝望与信徒内心那神圣的绝望相遇时,事情才会有转机。
「绝望的处境需要孤注一掷的措施」
进深研究
赛五十五1-7;太五6;诗四十二1-2,六十三1
1. 神给口渴的人的应许是甚么?
2. 大卫怎么样描述他对神的渴望?
祈祷
天父,求您使用今天的信息,让我的灵有圣洁的绝望来俯伏在您脚前。我不能逃避也不想逃避,如果有必要的话求您使我绝望──绝望得愿意为基督成为一个「傻瓜」。奉主耶稣的名祈求,阿们。
Heaven-Sent Revival
"Desperate men"

Bible reading:
Psalm 143:1-12
1 Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.
2 Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.
3 The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead.
4 So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.
5 I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.
6 I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.[a]
7 Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit.
8 Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life.
9 Rescue me from my enemies, Lord, for I hide myself in you.
10 Teach me to do your will, for you are my God; may your good Spirit lead me on level ground.
11 For your name's sake, Lord, preserve my life; in your righteousness, bring me out of trouble.
12 In your unfailing love, silence my enemies; destroy all my foes, for I am your servant.
Message
We continue looking at the characteristic of spiritual desperation which, we have been saying, usually makes its presence known in all "revival praying". I believe it was Karl Barth who once said: "We do not read our Bibles aright until we read them like desperate men." He meant, I think, that until we become spiritually desperate ourselves we will not be able to recognise the desperation that flowed in the hearts of the men and women who are portrayed in the Scriptures.
I wonder, as you read the psalm that is before us today did you feel the desperation that is present in the heart of the psalmist? Commenting on this psalm, C.S. Lewis said: "The first eleven verses were written in a strain that brings tears to the eyes. He is obviously a desperate man." Of course, the psalmist here is praying for personal revival and not national revival, but the principle to get hold of is this: desperate praying brings powerful and positive results.
Permit me once again to ask you a personal question: Have you ever felt desperate enough about the moral and spiritual conditions around you to spend a few days praying and fasting? Most people's response to the idea of fasting is: "Well, things are not desperate enough to demand that!" There's an old saying that goes: "Desperate situations demand desperate measures," I don't know how you view the world situation, but it seems obvious to me that things are in a desperate state. And they will only change as the desperation in the world is met and countered by a holy desperation in the hearts of the men and women who constitute the Christian Church.
"Desperate situations demand desperate measures"
Prayer
O Father, use the facts that I have read today to drive me to Your feet in a spirit of holy desperation. I cannot escape them - nor do I want to. Make me desperate - desperate enough to be a "fool for Christ" if that is necessary. In Jesus' Name. Amen.
Further study
Isaiah 55:1-7
Matthew 5:6P
salm 42:1-2; 63:1
1. What is promised to those who thirst?
2. How did David depict his longing for God?
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