5.7.20 為何而戰？What Do We Fight For?

Nehemiah 尼希米 3-4.      視頻：為下一代而戰

Nehemiah 4:¹⁴ And I looked and arose and said to the nobles and to the officials and to the rest of the people, “Do not be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons, your daughters, your wives, and your homes.”

尼希米記 4:¹⁴ 我察看了，就起來對貴族、官長和其餘的百姓說：「不要怕他們！當記得主是大而可畏的。你們要為你們的弟兄、兒女、妻子、家園爭戰。」

When the returned exiles tried to rebuild the wall, they faced opposition from the surrounding people led by Sanballat, the governor of Samaria. “They all plotted together to come and fight against Jerusalem and to cause confusion in it.” But Nehemiah responded with prayer and action; he set a guard as a protection against them day and night” (4:8-9). Life is full of oppositions – the morning traffic jam, politics in the workplace, and currently, COVID-19, which puts everything on hold. Nehemiah reminds his people and reminds us to remember that the Lord is great and awesome. There is no need to be afraid of our enemies! Then he charged them to fight for their family members and for their homes. Brothers,  especially fathers: what are we fighting for? Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “The righteous man is the one who lives for the next generation”. Nehemiah led the people to fight day and night so that they did not even change their clothes; they kept their weapons with them all the time (4:21-23). May God raise up more of His people not to fight for their own success but for “our brothers, our sons, our daughters, our wives, and our homes.”!

當被擄歸回者試圖重建城牆時，他們遭到了以撒瑪利亞領袖參巴拉領導的周圍人民的反對。 “同謀要來攻打耶路撒冷，使城混亂。”尼希米用禱告和行動回應, “然而，我們向我們的　神禱告，又因他們的緣故，就派人站崗，晝夜防備他們。”（4：8-9）。我們的生活中充滿了許多攔阻-早上的交通擁堵，工作場所的政治以及目前的COVID-19使一切都被暫停了。尼希米提醒他的百姓，並提醒我們要記住耶和華是是大而可畏的, 不必懼怕我們的敵人！於是，他鼓勵他們為家庭成員和家庭而戰。弟兄們，尤其是父親：潘霍華（Dietrich Bonhoeffer）說：“義人是為下一代而活的人。”尼希米帶領百姓日夜爭戰，以至於他們甚至沒有換衣服且隨身隨時帶著武器。（4：21-23）。願上帝興起更多不為自己的成功而戰的子民，而是為“我們的弟兄、兒女、妻子、家園爭戰”！