28/10 “Let Us Watch in Hope for God Who Will Hear and Save Us 让我们仰望那必聆听应允,并拯救我们的神”(Read阅读Micah 彌迦书7:5-7)
Do not trust a neighbour; put no confidence in a friend. Even with the woman who lies in your embrace guard the words of your lips. For a son dishonours his father, a daughter rises up against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law – a man’s enemies are the members of his own household. But as for me, I watch in hope for the LORD, I wait for God my Saviour; my God will hear me. 不可信靠邻舍,也不可信任朋友,要守住你的嘴唇,不可向躺在你怀中的妻子透露。儿子藐视父亲,女儿抗拒母亲,媳妇与婆婆作对;人的仇敌就是自己的家人。至于我,我却要仰望耶和华,我要等候那拯救我的神;我的神必应允我。(Micah 彌迦书7:5-7)
Because of their rampant sin and selfishness, personal relationships had crumbled among God’s people. One could not trust in a friend or put confidence in a companion, and even blood relatives were at war with each other. In this sin-immersed culture, there were few people to inspire confidence or offer compassion – so one could only look to God. Nevertheless, God can use this as a good thing, because it forces us to put our trust in the only One who can never let us down – the God of our salvation. 在神的子民中间个人之间的关系,因着他们蔓生的罪和自私已破裂了。人不能信任朋友或对伙伴有信心,并什至血亲彼此争斗。在这沉湎于罪性的文化里,不多人赋予信心的灵感或献出怜悯,因此人指望神。然而神能够用这不好的事作为好的事,因为它迫使我们把自己的信靠,放在那永不能让我们失望的唯一者、我们拯救的神。
Prayer禱告: Gracious and Loving Father, we recognise this is a bad thing because your children should be honourable and trustworthy enough so that we can have confidence in them and expect compassion from them. We admit that we might have been behaving similarly without noticing our own issues. Forgive and help us to look to Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit for resolution. 满有恩惠仁爱的父啊,我们认识到这是不好的事情,因为你的儿女理应相当正直和可信赖的,以致我们能对他们有信心,期待从他们中有怜悯。我们承认或许已一直有类似的行为表现而不自觉自己的问题,求你宽恕和帮助我们,去指望耶稣基督和圣灵得着转变解决。Amen.