Month of Thanksgiving - Day 21

詩篇116：1-11

¹ 我愛耶和華，因為他聽了我的聲音和我的懇求。
² 他既向我側耳，我一生要求告他。
³ 死亡的繩索纏繞我，陰間的痛苦抓住我，我遭遇患難愁苦。
⁴ 那時我便求告耶和華的名說：「耶和華啊，求你救我的靈魂！」
⁵ 耶和華有恩惠，有公義，我們的神以憐憫為懷。
⁶ 耶和華保護愚人，我落到卑微的地步，他救了我。
⁷ 我的心哪，你要仍歸安樂，因為耶和華用厚恩待你。
⁸ 主啊，你救我的命免了死亡，救我的眼免了流淚，救我的腳免了跌倒。
⁹ 我要在耶和華面前行活人之路。
¹⁰ 我因信，所以如此說話：「我受了極大的困苦。」
¹¹ 我曾急促地說：「人都是說謊的。」

Psalm 116：1-11

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.”

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Brothers and sisters, the author of this psalm was greatly afflicted and therefore said in his haste that "all men are liars". Have you ever had similar experience? Often time we find our joy and faith based on people or circumstances that in the end will bring us disappointment and make us complain. As other psalm suggests, we many times are fool and forget the love and promises of the Lord. In this psalm, the author turned back to the Lord in faith and called upon His name. Our merciful Lord then inclined His ear to the simple supplications, delivering the author from death. For us, the situation may not change immediately after our supplications, but He will surely bring our soul to return to the rest.

"Not a burden we bear, not a sorrow we share", as is said in Hymn 364, "not a grief or a loss, not a frown or a cross, but is blest if we trust and obey". Do you trust in Him? Do you obey Him? It is hard to be full of faith in difficulties, but let's still call upon the Lord with "I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!" Let's offer our deepest thanks to the Lord, for He is the one who supplies us with sufficient faith. And let's all praise the Lord as the author did - "I love the Lord".

弟兄姐妹，當詩人在極大的難處的裡面，他急促的說：“人都是說謊的”。你有過類似的經歷嗎？我們常把喜樂，信心建立在人或者環境上，但換回來的卻總是失望，甚至埋怨。詩篇說我們像愚妄人一樣，忘記了神的愛和應許。但詩人憑著信心回轉向神，求告他的主。就是這麼一個簡單的呼求，我們的神居然側耳而聽，安慰搭救我們，雖然環境可能沒有馬上改變，但祂卻要使我們重歸安樂。

沒有一個重擔祂不能背負，沒有一個憂患祂不能了解。聖徒詩歌H364提到："只要信而順從，這一切的傷心損失，所有的厭棄羞恥都要變成祝福"。你信嗎？你順從嗎？難處的裡面還要充滿信心，太難了。但我們要向神求：“我信，但我信不足，求主幫助。”因為連信心都是祂給的。為著從神而來的信心獻上最深的感恩，與詩人同讚：“我愛耶和華”。