Day 13
第13天
Isaiah 25:1-5, 9
O Lord, You are my God.
I will exalt You,
I will praise Your name,
For You have done wonderful things;
Your counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
2 For You have made a city a ruin,
A fortified city a ruin,
A palace of foreigners to be a city no more;
It will never be rebuilt.
3 Therefore the strong people will glorify You;
The city of the terrible nations will fear You.
4 For You have been a strength to the poor,
A strength to the needy in his distress,
A refuge from the storm,
A shade from the heat;
For the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against the wall.
5 You will reduce the noise of aliens,
As heat in a dry place;
As heat in the shadow of a cloud,
The song of the terrible ones will be diminished.
9And it will be said in that day:
“Behold, this is our God;
We have waited for Him, and He will save us.
This is the Lord;
We have waited for Him;
We will be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”
We might take it for granted, but our praise flows from a very personal relationship with our God. Look at the very first line again. This is a personal affirmation of confidence and personal praise to the Lord. Like with thanksgiving, some people sadly give only generic, general praise. But Christian praise ought to flow out of an intimate, personal, covenantal, vibrant and living relationship with God.
The quality, honesty, and reality of my praise to God can only be in proportion to the quality, honesty, and reality of my relationship with God. Here the character of God and the works which flow from that character are praised--not in abstract or detached terms but from firsthand experience and intimate knowledge of who God is and what exactly He has accomplished for His people.
As we come upon Christmas, can you this season make the proclamation of verse nine personally? Don’t simply read the words. But will you sing and pray these words in praise to Jesus - God saves - rejoicing in His salvation? It is because Christ came and saved us that we can make such a bold, honest statement as Behold, this is our God. Christ alone has given us this personal relationship with the Father, He alone has given us the Spirit by which we might come to our Abba, Father, and it is Christ alone which saved us, the needy who were in such dire distress.
以賽亞書 25:1-5,9
1耶和華啊，你是我的 神！我要尊崇你，我要稱讚你的名，因為你以忠信誠實行過奇妙的事，成就你古時所定的。
2 你使城變為亂堆，使堅固城變為荒場，使外邦人宮殿的城不再為城，永遠不再建造。 3 所以剛強的民必榮耀你，強暴之國的城必敬畏你。4 因為當強暴人催逼人的時候，如同暴風直吹牆壁，你就做貧窮人的保障，做困乏人急難中的保障，做躲暴風之處，做避炎熱的陰涼。 5 你要壓制外邦人的喧嘩，好像乾燥地的熱氣下落；禁止強暴人的凱歌，好像熱氣被雲影消化。
9 到那日，人必說：「看哪，這是我們的 神，我們素來等候他，他必拯救我們。這是耶和華，我們素來等候他，我們必因他的救恩歡喜快樂。」
也許我們會認為是理所當然，但是我們對 神的讚美確實源自於我們與祂之間個人的關係。當我們讀經文的第一句時，就會發現這是作者本人信心的宣告以及他自己對 神的讚美。可悲的是，就像感恩一樣，有些人只能獻上一些泛泛的讚美之辭。可是，基督徒的讚美應該是源自於與 神之間的親密的、個人的、盟約的、活潑的關係。
我對 神讚美的品質、誠實性和真實性是和我與 神之間關係的品質、誠實性和真實性成正比的。在這裡，我們看到 神的屬性以及基於這些屬性之上的 神的工作是配得我們讚美的。這種讚美不是一些抽象的或超然的術語，而是出自於對 神第一手的經歷，和對 神的所是以及祂為祂的子民作成就的事的最直接的認識。
聖誕節將至，你能不能以第九節作為你個人的宣告？不要只是匆匆讀過而已。你會不會在對耶穌（神拯救）的讚美中，和在因祂救恩的歡喜快樂中用這些經文來頌讚和禱告呢？正是因為基督來拯救了我們，我們才可以如此大膽、誠實地宣告：“看哪，這是我們的 神！” 惟有在基督裡，我們才能和天父有這樣的個人關係；惟有基督可以賜給我們聖靈使我們可以稱 神為“阿爸，父” ；也惟有基督能夠拯救我們這些在苦難中有需求的人。
親愛的弟兄姊妹，今天是值得讚美的一天！
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