活在被擄中Living in Exile
[每日靈修] 2/22/2019, 駱鴻銘編譯
我們面向尼希米，尋找一些線索，以便在困苦的時期作我們朝聖之旅的指引。尼希米聽說了耶路撒冷光景的消息，因此悲痛欲絕。牆壁被拆毀，城門被焚燒。對於失去此遺產，他首先感到的是悲傷，而不是苦毒或憤怒。尼希米哭泣、哀悼，正如耶穌後來也為同一個城市哭泣那樣。
在他的悲痛中，尼希米進行到下一步，即祈禱、禁食。他的禱告首先是讚美的禱告，讚美上帝的威嚴和祂對其子民的信實：「大而可畏的神啊，你向愛你、守你誡命的人守約、施慈愛。」（尼一5）。
即使在被擄期間，尼希米也讚美上帝對聖約的信實。然後他將禱告的焦點轉向悔改，他懇求上帝赦免祂自己百姓的罪，承認他們使被擄的命運臨到自己身上。
活在神的面光中（在神面前禱告）：
想一想上帝在過去用了哪些方法證明祂對你是信實的，然後感謝祂！
進一步研讀：
申七9 所以，你要知道耶和華─你的上帝，祂是上帝，是信實的上帝；向愛祂、守祂誡命的人守約、施慈愛，直到千代。
尼一3～6 他們對我說：「那些被擄歸回剩下的人在猶大省遭大難，受凌辱；並且耶路撒冷的城牆拆毀，城門被火焚燒。」 我聽見這話，就坐下哭泣，悲哀幾日，在天上的神面前禁食祈禱，說： 「耶和華天上的神，大而可畏的神啊，你向愛你、守你誡命的人守約施慈愛。 願你睜眼看，側耳聽，你僕人晝夜在你面前為你眾僕人以色列民的祈禱，承認我們以色列人向你所犯的罪；我與我父家都有罪了。
Living in Exile
“The words of Nehemiah the son of
Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I
was in Susa the capital, that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men
from Judah” (Neh. 1:1–2a).
- Nehemiah 1:1-3
After the Babylonian empire fell to the
Persians, the new world power was left in charge of all the lands over which
Babylon once reigned. To help maintain peace in its territories, Persia often
allowed exiled peoples to return to their homelands, including the Jews
following Cyrus’ proclamation in 538 BC (2 Chron. 36:22–23). Since the
restoration did not get off to a very good start, God sent prophets and leaders
to encourage the people to rebuild the temple and prepare for the Messiah.
Nehemiah was one of these leaders, and so we will spend this week looking at
his ministry with the help of Dr. R.C. Sproul’s teaching series Book of
Nehemiah.
Even though the book of Nehemiah is
probably not one of the more familiar portions of Scripture, Dr. Sproul believes
that it has a special relevance for Western Christians today, especially those
who live in the United States. This is on account of the “culture war” that has
been raging for over five decades. Undeniably, American society is greatly
divided today over several moral issues. A large majority is committed to the
sanctity of life and opposes abortion on demand, while a great number of people
want to preserve the legality of abortion because of their commitment to
personal autonomy over the well-being of the defenseless. In large swaths of
the country, homosexual “marriage” is regarded as a moral imperative, while
elsewhere the idea that marriage can be anything other than the union of one
man and one woman is anathema. The roots of these conflicts, at least in their
current form, go back to the “sexual revolution” of the 1960s. Prior to that
decade, there was a degree of shame attached to promiscuity, though it is not
as if the decadence of that era was unknown before then. Yet the 1960s marked a
turning point in that what was once done shamefully in secret emerged as good
and normal. Since that day, secular society has grown increasingly hostile to
the biblical ethic that undergirds much of Western civilization.
Nehemiah, a Jew serving in the Persian
court, lived in a similar situation. He was facing the loss of his traditions
as Jerusalem lay in ruins and the people of God were held in reproach (Neh.
1:1–4). He had to learn how to be faithful to the Lord while under the rule of
a king who did not know the God of Israel. Like us, Nehemiah had to learn to
preserve the sanctity of the covenant community in a foreign land.
Coram Deo
When it comes to the “culture war,”
American evangelicals often embrace one of two extremes. On the one hand, they
can give up trying to influence society altogether. On the other, they might
believe the nation will be saved if we elect the right people and pass the
right laws. A more biblical approach would be to affirm the legitimacy of
Christians serving the common good in the public square while recognizing that
the gospel saves, not moralism.
Passages for Further Study
Deuteronomy 8
Proverbs 3:1–2
Daniel 1
2 Thessalonians 2:15
