“主啊，求你睡醒，为何尽睡呢？求你兴起，不要永远丢弃我们。” – 诗 44:23
我们每一个人都需要睡眠的，若没有睡眠，我们的身体和脑袋便不能正常运作的了。神让睡眠成为人类生活重要的一部份，尽管我们不明白是什么原因。
然而神又怎样 – 神会不会睡觉的呢？在诗篇44篇，诗人问神衪是否在睡觉和催促衪醒来。他在说什么？！
在另一段经文中，圣经向我们保证，这位创造天地的神“不打盹、也不睡觉”（诗篇 121:4）。
但是，在诗篇44篇中，对诗人和百姓来说，神似乎是无声无息的；他们觉得神似乎睡着了。我们不清楚他们为什么悲叹，然而我们可以看到，神的子民正落在危急的境况中。他们被敌人击败了，神似乎已经丢弃了他们（5-11节）。
然而百姓却认为自己没有过失，说他们没有忘记神或衪的应许（17-18节）。他们提醒神衪昔日的信实，又催促衪以衪的权能来向与衪立约的子民显明衪坚定不移的爱。
诗篇44篇以惨淡的调子作结，那里没有任何来自神明显的宣告和确据。然而，这篇诗篇清楚表明两件事：我们面对危急的时刻时，神希望我们向衪呼求，而当我们这样做时，衪视此为我们信靠衪和爱衪的标记。神或许不是即时或按我们的意愿回应我们，然而衪知道我们需要什么和在什么时候需要的。
祷告
父啊，你永远不会睡觉，而你的信实也是永远长存的。当我们在等候你回应我们一切的需求时，求你帮助我们信靠你。阿们。
诗篇 44:23-26
23主啊，求你睡醒！为何尽睡呢？求你兴起，不要永远丢弃我们！
24你为何掩面，不顾我们所遭的苦难和所受的欺压？
25我们的性命伏于尘土，我们的肚腹紧贴地面。
26求你起来帮助我们，凭你的慈爱救赎我们！
God Asleep?!
“Awake, Lord! Why do you sleep? Rouse yourself! Do not reject us forever.” – Psalm 44:23
We all need sleep. Without it our bodies and minds can’t function properly. Though we don’t know why, God built sleep into what it means to be a human being.
But what about God—does God ever sleep? In Psalm 44, the psalmist asks if God is asleep and urges God to rouse himself. What?!
In another passage, the Bible assures us that God, who created the heavens and the earth, will “neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4).
But in Psalm 44 it seems that, to the psalmist and the people, God is silent. It feels to them like God is asleep. We don’t know the circumstances of this lament, but we can see that God’s people are in a desperate situation. They have been defeated by an enemy, and it seems that God has rejected them (vv. 5-11).
Yet the people feel innocent, saying they had not forgotten God or his promises (vv. 17-18). They remind God of his past faithfulness and urge him to show with power his steadfast, unfailing love for his covenant people.
Psalm 44 ends on a bleak note, without any clear declaration or assurance from God. Yet two things are clear in this psalm: God wants us to call out to him in our desperate times, and he takes it as a mark of trust and love when we do. God’s answer may not be immediate or to our liking, but he knows what we need and when.
Prayer
Father, you never sleep, and you are always faithful. Help us to trust in you as we wait for your answers to all our needs. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
