【诗122:6】你们要为耶路撒冷求平安。耶路撒冷啊，爱你的人必然兴旺。【Psa122:6】Pray for the peace of Jerusalem:“May those who love you be secure.

诗篇122篇是一首上行之诗。诗人来到耶路撒冷，他称赞耶路撒冷为国民的属灵中心和民事中心，呼吁众人为耶路撒冷城的平安与繁荣祷告。Psalm 122 is a Song of Ascents. When the psalmist arrives in Jerusalem, he praises Jerusalem as the spiritual and civic centre of the nation and calls everyone to pray for the peace and prosperity of the city.

诗人一路看到神的百姓不断聚集成为大群，同心来到圣殿敬拜，爱神的心越发的增长。Along the way, the psalmist sees God’s people continually gathering into a great multitude, coming together in unity to worship at the temple, and his love for God grows even more.他全然不在意旅途劳顿，来到神的殿中没有为自己求平安，而是把目光从自己转向神的家，为耶路撒冷求平安。He does not focus on the tiredness of the journey. When he arrives at the house of God, he does not ask for peace for himself, but turns his attention away from himself towards the house of God and prays for the peace of Jerusalem.

“为耶路撒冷求平安”，这里的平安也不只是没有纷争、没有困难、环境顺利。诗篇后面说：“因我弟兄和同伴的缘故，我要说：愿平安在你中间。因耶和华我们神殿的缘故，我要为你求福。”“To pray for the peace of Jerusalem” does not simply mean praying for the absence of conflict and difficulty or for things to go smoothly. Later in the psalm it says: “For the sake of my brothers and companions, I will say, ‘Peace be within you.’ For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek your good.”诗人所求的，是神的百姓能够在神里面合一，是神的殿能够按着神的心意被建立。因此，他所爱的不是一座城市本身，而是神所爱的、神所看重的。What the psalmist is praying for is that God’s people may be united in Him and that the house of God may be built according to His will. So what he loves is not merely the city itself, but what God loves and values.

“爱你的人必然兴旺”，也不是说爱耶路撒冷就能换取财富、顺利和个人祝福，而是说，一个真正爱神所爱的人，他的生命已经从“为自己而活”转向“以神为中心”。“May those who love you prosper” does not mean that loving Jerusalem can be exchanged for wealth, success, or personal blessing. Rather, it means that a person who truly loves what God loves has already moved from “living for himself” to “living with God at the centre”.他的兴旺，不一定表现为环境越来越顺利，而是生命越来越进入神的心意，在患难中更有神，在舍己中更像基督，在服事中经历神丰盛的生命。His prosperity may not necessarily look like life becoming easier, but like his life coming more deeply into God’s will, experiencing more of God in hardship, becoming more like Christ through self-denial, and experiencing the fullness of God’s life through serving others.

这也把我们的眼目带到基督。旧约的耶路撒冷是神百姓聚集敬拜的地方，而在新约里，我们看见基督为自己建立教会。“基督爱教会，为教会舍己。”This also turns our eyes towards Christ. In the Old Testament, Jerusalem was the place where God’s people gathered to worship, while in the New Testament, we see Christ building His church for Himself. “Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her.”祂不是因为教会已经完全、没有软弱才爱她，而是用自己的血买赎属祂的人。祂为教会舍己，使我们与神和好，也使我们在祂里面成为一个身体。He did not love the church because she was already perfect and without weakness, but purchased those who belong to Him with His own blood. He gave Himself for the church, reconciling us to God and making us one body in Him.

祷告丨Prayer

父啊，求你赦免我常常为自己的平安和福气祈求，却很少为神的教会和祂的百姓祷告。Father, please forgive me for so often praying for my own peace and blessing, while seldom praying for God’s church and His people.

求祢扩大我的心，使我不再只顾自己的需要，而学习爱神所爱、关心神所关心，为祢的教会祷告，为祢的百姓守望，Please enlarge my heart, so that I no longer care only about my own needs, but learn to love what God loves and care about what God cares about, praying for Your church and keeping watch over Your people.愿基督在教会中居首位、掌王权，愿祢的平安临到祢的百姓，愿祢的国度不断扩展。May Christ have first place and reign as King in the church; may Your peace rest upon Your people, and may Your kingdom continue to grow.

(Sister Carol)