our daily bread

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Dexu Xia

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May 8, 2017, 2:16:33 AM5/8/17

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Praise in the Dark

Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name. Hebrews 13:15

Even though my friend Mickey was losing his eyesight, he told me, “I’m going to keep praising God every day, because He’s done so much for me.”

Jesus gave Mickey, and us, the ultimate reason for such never-ending praise. The twenty-sixth chapter of Matthew tells us about how Jesus shared the Passover meal with His disciples the night before He went to the cross. Verse 30 shows us how they concluded the meal: “When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.”

Lord, help me to learn to praise You more and more.

It wasn’t just any hymn they sang that night—it was a hymn of praise. For millennia, Jews have sung a group of Psalms called “The Hallel” at Passover (hallel is the Hebrew word for “praise”). The last of these prayers and songs of praise, found in Psalms 113–118, honors the God who has become our salvation (118:21). It refers to a rejected stone that became a cornerstone (v. 22) and one who comes in the name of the Lord (v. 26). They may very well have sung, “The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad” (v. 24).

As Jesus sang with His disciples on this Passover night, He was giving us the ultimate reason to lift our eyes above our immediate circumstances. He was leading us in praise of the never-ending love and faithfulness of our God.

You are always worthy of praise, Lord, even when I don’t feel like praising You! Help me to learn to praise You more and more.

Praising God helps us recall His goodness that never ends.

黑暗中的赞美

我们应当靠着耶稣，常常以颂赞为祭献给上帝，这就是那承认主名之人嘴唇的果子。-希伯来书13章15节

我的朋友李奇虽然已经近乎失明，但他却说：“我仍要每天持续不断地赞美上帝，因祂为我成就许多美事。”

耶稣不只给李奇，也给了我们不断赞美祂的理由。在马太福音26章，描述了耶稣上十字架前一晚和门徒共进逾越节晚餐的情景。根据第30节的记载，他们的晚餐是这么结束的：“他们唱了诗，就出来往橄榄山去。”

那晚，他们唱的诗歌是赞美诗。几千年来，犹太人都会在逾越节吟唱“哈利路亚颂词”（Hallel，这个字希伯来文的意思为颂赞），就是记录在诗篇113-118篇的祷词和赞美诗歌。它最后的部分尊崇上帝成为我们的拯救（118篇21节）、被人所弃的石头已成了房角的头块石头（22节），以及有一位将会奉耶和华的名而来（26节）。所以他们高声欢唱：“这是耶和华所定的日子，我们在其中要高兴欢喜。”（24节）

当耶稣和门徒在逾越节同声赞美时，祂给了我们不看环境，只单单仰望祂的理由，祂也带领我们赞美上帝的信实与祂永不止息的爱。

主啊，即便当我不愿开口赞美祢时，
祢都永远配得我们的颂赞！
求祢帮助我，能学习常常赞美祢。