诗篇119最后一段,是以希伯来文最后一个字母开始的,在这段诗篇中,诗人最后一次表达他的哀痛,是意料中事。不过,出乎我们意料之外的,或许是诗人承认他自已的过错。
尽管作者暗示他没有遵守神的话语,但他从来没有公开承认过,直至现在。此外,他一直都强烈谴责那些违背神话语的人,我们很容易毫不考虑便视诗人为一个自以为义的人。然而,在他的诗篇结束时,作者把自己比作走迷了路的亡羊。他亲口承认,他犯了不遵行神的指示的罪,他需要帮助。
在整篇诗篇中,我们看到诗人在绝望的境况中热切向神呼求,他时常祈求神拯救他,神虽然好像没有作声,但一次又一次,他都在神的话语中见到神和找到平安喜乐。当然,可笑的是,与其说是诗人在寻找神,倒不如说,从最初开始,神一直都在寻找他更为确实。神赐下祂宝贵的话语,是我们极其需要的,藉着祂的话语,神向我们显明祂的怜悯和慈爱,这是一个不容置疑的事实。神首先来寻找我们,而祂也会继续供应我们的需要。
神已经在寻找我们了。我们有没有遵行祂的话语来寻求得到祂的喜悦呢?
主啊,惟愿我口中倾流出颂赞,因为祢教导我们明白祢的话语。阿们。
诗篇 119:169-176
169耶和华啊,愿我的呼吁达到你面前,照你的话赐我悟性。
170愿我的恳求达到你面前,照你的话搭救我。
171愿我的嘴发出赞美的话,因为你将律例教训我。
172愿我的舌头歌唱你的话,因你一切的命令尽都公义。
173愿你用手帮助我,因我拣选了你的训词。
174耶和华啊,我切慕你的救恩,你的律法也是我所喜爱的。
175愿我的性命存活,得以赞美你,愿你的典章帮助我。
176我如亡羊走迷了路,求你寻找仆人,因我不忘记你的命令。
"I have strayed like a lost sheep. Seek your servant, for I have not forgotten your commands." - Psalm 119:176
It should come as no surprise that in this last section of Psalm 119—which starts with the last letter of the Hebrew alphabet—the psalmist offers up one last lament. What may surprise us, though, is the psalmist’s confession of his own guilt.
Although the writer has hinted about failing to keep God’s Word, he has not openly admitted it until now. What’s more, with his fiery condemnation of people who have violated God’s Word, it would be easy to dismiss the psalmist as self-righteous. But here, at the very end of his psalm, the author compares himself to a wandering sheep. By his own admission, he stands guilty of failing to keep God’s instructions. He needs help.
Throughout the psalm, we have seen the psalmist passionately crying out in desperate situations. Often he asks for God’s rescue, and repeatedly he finds peace and joy in meeting God in his Word, even when God may seem silent. The irony, of course, is that the psalmist hasn’t been searching for God so much as God has been seeking the psalmist all along—from the very start. By providing his precious Word, which we all desperately need, God has shown beyond the shadow of a doubt his mercy and his love. God seeks us first and continues to provide for us.
God has sought us. Are we seeking to please him through obeying his Word?
May our lips overflow with praise, Lord, for you teach us your Word. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳