Tuesday, 21st December 2021
Rev Daniel Xi An Poon
Section One V 1-11 Everything is Past
V1 ‘How lonely sits the city that was full of people! How like a widow is she, who was great among the nations! The princess among the provinces has become a slave!’ Are we a city full of people? Is our past glamourous but now a desolate land? The prophet Jeremiah was talking about Jerusalem, the bride of Jesus. God’s Will is always good for His people, He does not want His children to suffer, but we chose to leave God. V3 ‘Judah has gone into captivity, under affliction and hard servitude; she dwells among the nations, she finds no rest; all her persecutors overtake her in dire straits.’ When we chose to run away from our problems, we will never reach the spacious place, because if we don’t deal with the problems in our heart, and if we leave the presence of God, then we can never experience the breakthrough.
Do we know how far away we are from God? He is always with us, but we chose to stay far away from Him. If we don’t read the Bible, and if we don’t pray and seek Him, then we will not be able to receive the true peace and joy from Heaven. V4 ‘The roads to Zion mourn because no one comes to the set feasts. All her gates are desolate; her priests sigh, her virgins are afflicted, and she is in bitterness.’ Here Jeremiah talked about how the glorious past was gone, people left God and they no longer trusted God. Why did the city of Jerusalem fell? Because of the sins of people, who thought it was ok not to follow God. What they did not know was that their decision influenced their future generations. Our children are our inheritance from God, and if we don’t take care of our inheritance, it will not become our blessings but curses.
Furthermore, a lot of people nowadays chose not to have children, because they do not know children are God’s inheritance for them. What we should do with our children is to teach them to know about the Word of God. Education is important, but if we follow the worldly values to educate our children, instead of teaching them the Word of God, then we cannot pass the flow of blessings to our future generations. V6 ‘And from the daughter of Zion all her splendor has departed. Her princes have become like deer that find no pasture, that flee without strength before the pursuer.’ When we leave God and live in sins, then we will want to hide. The sins of pride, the sins of ‘doing’, the sins of the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil… the more we sin, the more we want to avoid God and avoid hard work.
When Jesus was tired, He went up to the mountain to pray, because His strength was not from resting, but from the love of the Heavenly Father. Stop feeling sorry for ourselves, God wants us to receive victory, but can we see the victorious God in our lives? It’s easy to blame God and it’s easy to give up on pursuing God. V9 ‘Her uncleanness is in her skirts; she did not consider her destiny; therefore, her collapse was awesome; she had no comforter. “O Lord, behold my affliction, for the enemy is exalted!”’ God gave us a clean robe, but if we refuse to put it on, then we will fall into the temptation of the world. We stop thinking about godly things, but only our own hurt and pain. We are licking our wounds, blaming the whole world, and feeling sorry for ourselves.
A lot of time, Satan did not do anything, it was our sins and our rebellious natures that cause us pain. But being prideful, we refuse to repent before God, we continue to tell lies and to run away. V10-11 ‘The adversary has spread his hand over all her pleasant things; for she has seen the nations enter her sanctuary, those whom You commanded not to enter Your assembly. All her people sigh, they seek bread; they have given their valuables for food to restore life. “See, O Lord, and consider, for I am scorned.”’ God appointed us to be His leaders, we had the authority to distribute food, and we had the talents to bless others. But we chose not to use this authority and talents wisely. A lot of people chose to serve the world instead of serving the church. At the end, the food ran out and we could no longer feed the people following us.
Section Two V12-17 God Takes Over
V12-13 ‘Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Behold and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which has been brought on me, which the Lord has inflicted in the day of His fierce anger. From above He has sent fire into my bones, and it overpowered them; He has spread a net for my feet and turned me back; He has made me desolate and faint all the day.’ Do we see God’s Will in the troubles and difficulties in our lives? God allows things to happen because He loves us, and He wants us to turn back to Him! Because only He can save and deliver us. But so often we chose to stay in our difficulties instead of remembering God.
Through situations and people, God wants us to let go of what we hold onto, stop relying on ourselves and start relying on God. The more we run away from God, the more we will suffer; the more we don’t face the problems in our lives, the more we will come across the same problems! We must take root in the church of God, to bear fruits, to have love and trust, and to believe that God has prepared the better blessings for us.
V15 ‘The Lord has trampled underfoot all my mighty men in my midst; He has called an assembly against me to crush my young men; the Lord trampled as in a winepress the virgin daughter of Judah.’ God wants us to stop relying on people, even ourselves, we cannot make people our god, and we cannot make ourselves god! There is only one God and only Him we should fully rely on. Nothing in this world will last forever, what do we choose to follow and to invest in? God is waking us up!
Section Three V18-22 The Fall of Men
V22 ‘Let all their wickedness come before You, and do to them as You have done to me for all my transgressions; for my sighs are many, and my heart is faint.’ God’s Word has power, but the people did not believe in God. The people were not convicted for sins, for righteousness, and for judgment, instead, they blamed on others for making them miserable. Why would the glorious city become a fallen city? We must humble ourselves and come before God for only He can save us.
耶利米哀歌 1 – 一个失落的圣城
2021年12月21日 星期二
潘锡安牧师
在圣诞节这段喜庆的期间，我们读耶利米哀歌，神究竟要借此跟他所爱的儿女说什么呢？
一、一切都成过去 v.1-11
V1 耶利米所说的这座城曾经“满有人民”- 是热闹兴旺的。我们过去的生命是否如此热闹兴旺？这城“现在何竟独坐！”曾经很荣耀的城如今沦落到没有地位没有保护的“寡妇”境地。曾经别人都去奉献东西给这城，如今他们却要将东西给其他人。
V2 “她”指的是耶路撒冷，基督的新妇。她现在活在完全的悲哀中，之前那些爱惜她的人中，“没有一个安慰她”，甚至“以诡诈待她，成为她的仇敌”。
V3 他们遇到困难和攻击的时候选择逃避。我们是否在面对不如意的时候也选择一走了之？我们可以换环境，但我们的生命没有改变，所以不管我们去到哪里都会遇到同样的问题。唯有将我们的生命处理好、对准神的时候，我们才会看见神给我们的祝福和应许之地，不然我们只是一个失败的逃难者，因为神对我们的意念是赐平安的意念，不是四处逃离的孤儿。犹大选择逃离，但生命没有改变，就算换了一个地方，仍然“寻不着安息”。我们是否也遇到这样的问题？我们的生命若不够宽广，我们走的路就都是狭窄的，还会被仇敌“追上”，因为我们没有神的同在。面对仇敌我们其实不用害怕逃跑，因为神会带我们躺卧在青草地上，用他的杖他的竿安慰我们。如果我们是靠着doing来行事，我们最后就会劳苦重担、逃避离开。在神的国里，我们不是离开，而是寻找，正如耶稣说的，凡劳苦担重担的来到他面前就能得安息。神就在他的话和命令里面，唯有在他的话里面我们才能得着天国的喜乐。
V4 锡安是属神的城，但因为人的离开，就没有人来守圣节，只剩下“悲伤”。当我们的生命出现问题和悲哀的时候，我们更要来到神的圣城祷告献祭，而不是抱怨甚至躲避神。“她的城门凄凉，她的祭司叹息” – 祭司本来是要献祭和对人宣讲神的话，但如今在锡安人去楼空，昔日的赞美敬拜都不在了，献祭的人也离开了，因为忘记神的爱，对神没有信任。
V5 为何圣城和圣殿变成如此的光景？这都是因为人的罪，耶和华就使她受苦。当我们离开神的时候，我们的孩童、下一代都会被世界掳去。神给我们的下一代是我们的产业，我们的仇敌本来被我们踏在脚下，如今仇敌却为所欲为，让我们担心下一代。很多人看生养下一代是负担，却没有看到他们是神给我们的产业。我们要给孩子的就是让他们从小明白圣经，让他们到老都不偏离 – 这是神给父母最重要的责任，但我们给孩子的是否只是世界的价值观？每一天的晨祷神都借着他的话对我们说话，我们是否有将自己学到的教给孩子？
V6 神的子民再没有荣耀、没有力气，就躲到山洞里。离开神就是罪：骄傲、doing、不倚靠神、活在分辨善恶树下 – 于是每天因为做得很辛苦，就想要做一些事情让自己轻松一点。耶稣累的时候就去山上祷告，因为他的力量是从与天父爸爸的关系而来，有爱有信任，所以他愿意摆上。若我们只是用doing的模式来到晨祷，我们就不能从天父爸爸的话语中得到力量。我们要花时间在神的话语和跟从神之上。
V7 面对一堆的问题，我们不是用放大镜去看问题，而是要看过去我们们如何靠主得胜，如何靠主走过高山低谷。当我们与神有连接的时候，我们是丰盛有余、居首不居尾的！
V8 犯罪后，我们不要怨天尤人，也不要放弃自己。我们是否已经冷淡退后？不要随便自我饶恕，让那一点点的罪成为我们生命中的酵，最后成为我们仇敌的俘虏。
V9 她不再愿意披戴耶稣 – 当我们不愿意跟从神的时候，我们披戴的就是污秽的衣服。我们不会想到罪的恶果，只想到自己很可怜、抱怨没有人来安慰自己。我们会抱怨这些都是魔鬼撒旦的问题，但却看不见自己的叛逆骄傲，不愿意为罪为义为审判在神和人面前悔改，说出来的话都是骄傲的话和谎言。
V10 本来这些百姓是有能力医病赶鬼的，但因为犯罪，他们失去了这个能力。
V11 我们本来是可以分粮、带领别人的，如今下面的人都没有食物吃了，只好用圣殿中的金银去换取食物。教会是基督的身体，在万有之上，我们是否放下传道人、小组长这些荣耀的身份，不去牧养人，而是跑到外面用神给我们如金银的恩赐来赚钱，还美其名曰“谦卑服事职场人士”？我们是否看重神给我们的教会是“圣殿”，是否知道神给我们的都是最好的？
二、神会出手 v.12-17
V12-13 神若不出手，人就会越走越远。于是耶和华“发烈怒”，人也都看见了。面对这些负面的事情，我们可能会怀疑神是否还在，但神在对我们说，“你为什么还不转回？”面对自己的苦境，我们不要继续靠自己，而要回转来到神面前，记念神。
V14 神要借着环境和人让我们学习放下，不倚靠自己而是单单倚靠神。我们是选择逃离、流离失所，还是在神的家中往下扎根、向上结果? 我们要求神饶恕，并且忘记过去，才能领受新的祝福。我们是否愿意信任神，相信神会给我们更好的？
V15 我们太过倚靠人，但神要我们放下这一切，单单倚靠神。
V16 当我们离开神、选择靠自己的时候，本来神要给我们的祝福就会变成诅咒。
V17 本来圣殿是神的居所，如今已经荒凉，人都取笑他。我们的生命有荣耀神吗，还是让人疑惑，看不到神? 神出手不是让我们受苦，而是让我们能醒悟过来。
三、人的堕落 v.18-22
V18-19 人会抱怨说神的公义让人受苦，却没有看到神的爱。“祭司和长老”没有在圣殿里教导和献祭，出来自己找食物，结果都饿死了。
V20 人知道自己的软弱，却只是抱怨、只看到问题，而没有回转寻求神。我们很容易放大自己的问题，用问题为借口让人觉得自己很可怜，但其实我们没有在神那里得到爱。我们靠着那加给我们力量的凡事都能做，当我们在神的话语里面时，我们祈求的神就给我们成就。
V22 他们不仅没有承认自己的罪，还指责其他人的不好。求神帮助我们不要落入这样的光景，因为神要我们过的是一个丰盛、荣美的生命。神是真的，我们相信吗？
一个失落的圣城为何沦落到如此地步？我们要明白，才能回转，走进新的一年！