Nehemiah Part 2: The Man Of God At Prayer (Chinese/English)

Reading Nehemiah Chapter 1

阅读《尼希米记》第一章

1 The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah.

Now it happened in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Susa the citadel,

哈迦利亚的儿子尼希米的言语如下：亚达薛西王二十年基斯流月，我在书珊城的宫中。

2 that Hanani, one of my brothers, came with certain men from Judah. And I asked them concerning the Jews who escaped, who had survived the exile, and concerning Jerusalem.

那时，有我一个弟兄哈拿尼，同着几个人从犹大来。我问他们那些被掳归回剩下逃脱的犹大人和耶路撒冷的光景。

3 And they said to me, “The remnant there in the province who had survived the exile is in great trouble and shame. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates are destroyed by fire.”

他们对我说：“那些被掳归回剩下的人在犹大省遭大难，受凌辱；并且耶路撒冷的城墙拆毁，城门被火焚烧。”

Nehemiah’s Prayer

尼希米的祷告

4 As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

我听见这话，就坐下哭泣，悲哀几日，在天上的　神面前禁食祈祷说：

5 And I said, “O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments,

“耶和华天上的　神，大而可畏的　神啊，你向爱你、守你诫命的人守约施慈爱。

6 let your ear be attentive and your eyes open, to hear the prayer of your servant that I now pray before you day and night for the people of Israel your servants, confessing the sins of the people of Israel, which we have sinned against you. Even I and my father’s house have sinned.

愿你睁眼看，侧耳听你仆人昼夜在你面前为你众仆人以色列民的祈祷，承认我们以色列人向你所犯的罪。我与我父家都有罪了。

7 We have acted very corruptly against you and have not kept the commandments, the statutes, and the rules that you commanded your servant, Moses.

我们向你所行的甚是邪恶，没有遵守你藉着仆人摩西所吩咐的诫命、律例、典章。

8 Remember the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful, I will scatter you among the peoples,

求你记念所吩咐你仆人摩西的话说：‘你们若犯罪，我就把你们分散在万民中；

9 but if you return to me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make my name dwell there.’

但你们若归向我，谨守遵行我的诫命，你们被赶散的人虽在天涯，我也必从那里将他们招聚回来，带到我所选择立为我名的居所。’

10 They are your servants and your people, whom you have redeemed by your great power and by your strong hand.

这都是你的仆人、你的百姓，就是你用大力和大能的手所救赎的。

11 O Lord, let your ear be attentive to the prayer of your servant, and to the prayer of your servants who delight to fear your name, and give success to your servant today, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man.”

Now I was cupbearer to the king.

主啊，求你侧耳听你仆人的祈祷，和喜爱敬畏你名众仆人的祈祷，使你仆人现今亨通，在王面前蒙恩。”我是作王酒政的。

Nehemiah The Man Of Prayer

祷告的人尼希米

Nehemiah is such an interesting character; he was a Jew in exile, and he had reached one of the highest positions in the court of Persia, he was a trusted advisor and confidant of the king.

尼希米是一个非常有趣的人物；他是一个流亡的犹太人，他在波斯的宫廷里达到了最高的职位之一，他是国王信任的顾问和知己。

He probably knew that people had gone back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, they had now returned, one being his own brother or a very close relative. Although he was a high-ranking court official, he was intimately interested in what was going on in Jerusalem.

他可能知道人们回到耶路撒冷去重建圣殿，他们现在已经回来了，其中一个是他自己的兄弟或非常亲密的亲戚。虽然他是一个高级的宫廷官员，但他对耶路撒冷发生的事情非常关心。

Let us learn some things from the prayer of Nehemiah:

让我们从尼希米的祷告中学习一些东西。

His prayer was passionate

他的祷告是充满激情的

Look how it starts, as soon as he heard, he sat down and wept. He was an emotional guy; he was a passionate guy. What are you passionate about? We have a generation of believers, who are passionate about anything other than the things of God. They are passionate about their sports team, their jobs, their cars, or some other idol; they have. If you heard like Nehemiah, the news that he heard, what would be your reaction? In today’s church, it would be seen as emotional over reaction, what would make you weep?

看它是如何开始的，他一听到就坐下来哭了。他是一个情绪化的人；他是一个充满激情的人。你对什么有热情？我们有一代信徒，他们对神的事情以外的任何事情都充满热情。他们热衷于他们的运动队、他们的工作、他们的汽车或其他一些偶像；他们有。如果你像尼希米一样听到他听到的消息，你会有什么反应？在今天的教会中，这将被视为情绪化的过度反应，什么会让你流泪？

Does the news that millions are going to hell every day make you weep?
Does the news that your country and community is in moral decline make you weep?
Does the news that your church and indeed yourself have lost its first love, make you weep?
The walls are broken down around your family, church, community, and country, does that make you weep?

每天有数以百万计的人下地狱的消息是否让你哭泣？
你的国家和社区正处于道德滑坡的消息是否让你哭泣？
你的教会乃至你自己已经失去起初爱心的消息，是否让你哭泣？
你的家庭、教会、社区和国家周围的墙壁被打破了，这是否让你哭泣？

He gave God his proper place. Verse 5

What did he call God?

He gave proper recognition to God, when we approach God in prayer, He is not some distant deity, neither is He our buddy, He is what Nehemiah calls Him

“O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God

第5节，他给了上帝适当的位置。

他怎么称呼上帝？

他对神给予了适当的认可，当我们在祷告中接近神时，他不是什么遥远的神灵，也不是我们的伙伴，他是尼希米所称的他

“耶和华天上的神，伟大而可畏的神

Before he petitioned god, he praised God Verse 5

Nehemiah praised God because God was and is a covenant keeping, loving, all powerful, faithful and awesome God. Next time you come before God, with your long list of requests, spend time praising Him for all that he is and all that he has done for you.

第5节，在向神请愿之前，他先赞美神。

尼希米赞美神，因为神过去和现在都是一位守约、慈爱、全能、信实、可畏的神。下次当你带着一长串的请求来到神面前时，请花时间赞美他，因为他的一切和他为你做的一切。

His prayer was persistent verse 6

Notice he prayed day and night, Jesus said in Luke 18:1 we had to pray and not lose heart and Paul in 1 Thess 5 said Pray without ceasing. Nehemiah prayed often and sought God on this matter, he told no one the situation, but God. Before he went to his pastor or friends, he went to his God.

第6节，他的祷告是持久的。

注意他日夜祷告，耶稣在路加福音18:1说，我们要祷告，不要灰心，保罗在帖撒罗尼迦前书5章说，要不住地祷告。尼希米经常祷告，在这件事上寻求神，他没有告诉任何人情况，只告诉了神。在他去找他的牧师或朋友之前，他去找他的神。

He knew his place in God’s plan verse 6

The prayer of your servant, Jesus said we are unprofitable servants at best. How often we come to God in pride, thinking we are something, when indeed we are nothing.  He was the cupbearer to the king, but to God, he was and is a humble servant, just like you and me

第6节，他知道自己在神的计划中的地位。

你仆人的祷告，耶稣说我们充其量是无益的仆人。我们常常在骄傲中来到上帝面前，以为自己很了不起，其实我们什么都不是。 他是国王的捧杯人，但对上帝来说，他过去和现在都是一个谦卑的仆人，就像你和我一样。

He prayed for his people verse 6

His prayer was focused on the children of Israel, he could have prayed and I’m sure he was praying for Persia, but his focus was on his own people. May we all focus on all own people, whether we are British, Chinese, German or Nigerian.

第6节，他为他的百姓祈祷。

他的祷告集中在以色列子民身上，他也可以祷告，我相信他也在为波斯祷告，但他的重点是在自己的子民身上。愿我们都能关注所有自己的子民，无论我们是英国人、中国人、德国人还是尼日利亚人。

His prayer was penitent and personal verses 6 and 7

Nehemiah realized what had caused this, sin. He did not hide from this. He realized that he was not excluded from blame. When I pray for the UK, I can say Lord look at the sin of that land, but I am guilty also, I have played a role in causing it to fall, even if I have said nothing and let sin just roll into the land, saying nothing against sin, is not an option.

第6和7节，他的祷告是忏悔的和个人的。

尼希米意识到造成这种情况的原因，即罪。他没有躲避这个问题。他意识到，他并没有被排除在责备之外。当我为英国祈祷时，我可以说，主啊，看看那片土地的罪，但我也有罪，我在导致它堕落方面起了作用，即使我什么都没说，让罪滚进那片土地，对罪什么都不说，也不是一种选择。

He reminded God of the promise he had made with the people, not that God needed to be reminded verse 8-10

God’s promises are sure and steadfast, if God said then it will come to pass. God had said that if the children of Israel followed him, then blessing would happen, if they didn’t, then failure would happen.

第8-10节，他提醒上帝他对人民的承诺，并不是说上帝需要被提醒。

神的应许是确定而坚定的，如果神说了，那么它就会实现。上帝曾说过，如果以色列人跟随他，那么祝福就会发生，如果他们不跟随，那么失败就会发生。

He praised God for his great power verse 10

It was God who redeemed the people and it would be God, who would now help them. The Children of Israel had gone after other God’s, but there only hope is and always will be in God. We need to remember that only God is able to do anything to help us, like the Baals on Mt Carmel, all other God’s are dead . Our God is alive and all powerful.

第10节，他赞美上帝的大能。

是神救赎了百姓，现在也将是神，帮助他们。以色列人曾追随其他的神，但他们唯一的希望是在神那里，而且永远都是。我们需要记住，只有神能够做任何事情来帮助我们，就像迦密山上的巴力，所有其他的神都是死的。我们的神是活的，是全能的。

He prayed for God’s protection verse 11

Nehemiah was a trusted advisor to the king, but his trust was in God and Him alone. He prayed for favor with this man, he knew who was in control.

第11节，他祈求神的保护。

尼希米是国王信任的顾问，但他的信任是在上帝那里，只有他。他祈求这个人的青睐，他知道谁在控制。

God answered Nehemiah’s prayer, because he came humbly to God, he came with a broken and contrite spirit. Nothing in his prayer was in pride, he came as a penitent sinner, he came with a reverence to God. God requires us to come to him acknowledging who He is, the one all-powerful God who is awesome in majesty and glory.

神回答了尼希米的祷告，因为他谦卑地来到神的面前，他带着破碎和悔恨的心来。他的祷告中没有任何骄傲的成分，他是作为一个忏悔的罪人来的，他带着对神的敬畏来的。神要求我们来到他面前，承认他是谁，是一位全能的神，他的威严和荣耀令人敬畏。

So often, I come to God and just have a shopping list of requests, but Nehemiah, we need to spend time worshipping God and then we can tell God all our needs.

所以，我常常来到神面前，只是有一个购物清单的要求，但尼希米，我们需要花时间敬拜神，然后我们可以告诉神我们所有的需要。

Let us come in humble repentance to our Great and all-powerful God, who alone can answer our prayers. His ear is always attentive to our prayers, if we came to God in the way Nehemiah did.

让我们谦卑地来到我们伟大而全能的神面前，只有他能回答我们的祷告。如果我们以尼希米的方式来到神的面前，他的耳朵总是注意到我们的祷告。