上帝是我们抵御毁谤的最佳防卫。

Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Nehemiah 4:4

我们的上帝啊，求祢垂听！因为我们被藐视。求祢使他们的毁谤归于他们的头上。-尼希米记4章4节

I work with a team to put on an annual community event. We spend eleven months plotting many details to ensure the event’s success. We choose the date and venue. We set ticket prices. We select everything from food vendors to sound technicians. As the event approaches, we answer public questions and provide directions. Afterward we collect feedback. Some good. Some that is hard to hear. Our team hears excitement from attendees and also fields complaints. The negative feedback can be discouraging and sometimes tempts us to give up.

每年，我会和一群人共同举办一个社区活动。我们用11个月的时间策划每个细节，以确保活动成功。除了决定日期、地点和票价，选择食品摊贩和音响技术员外，我们还得在接近活动日期时，回复民众的提问并提供指导。活动结束后，我们还需要搜集参与者的意见。意见当然有好有坏，我们为赞美之词感到兴奋，也要平息抱怨声浪。然而，有时恶意的批评实在令人沮丧，让我们真想就此放弃。

Nehemiah had critics too as he led a team to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. They actually mocked Nehemiah and those working alongside him saying, “Even a fox climbing up on it would break down [your] wall of stones” (Nehemiah 4:3). His response to the critics helps me handle my own: Instead of feeling dejected or trying to refute their comments, he turned to God for help. Instead of responding directly, he asked God to hear the way His people were being treated and to defend them (v. 4). After entrusting those concerns to God, he and his co-laborers continued to work steadily on the wall “with all their heart” (v. 6).

当尼希米领导以色列民重建耶路撒冷的城墙时，甚至遭到人们毁谤。他们嘲笑尼希米以及和他一起工作的人，说：“他们所修造的石墙，就是狐狸上去也必跐倒”（尼希米记4章3节）。尼希米的回应帮助我学习回应别人对我的毁谤：他不灰心丧志，也不反唇相讥，乃是向上帝求助。尼希米不直接回应别人的毁谤，而是求上帝垂听百姓受到的藐视，作他们的辩护者（4节）。他将忧虑卸给上帝，然后继续修造城墙，“专心作工”（6节）。

We can learn from Nehemiah not to be distracted by criticism of our work. When we’re criticized or mocked, instead of responding to our critics out of hurt or anger, we can prayerfully ask God to defend us from discouragement so we can continue with a whole heart.

我们可以学习尼希米的榜样，不要因所做的工遭人批评或毁谤就意志消沉。当饱受批评嘲讽时，与其难过或忿怒而以牙还牙，不如向上帝呼求，求祂保守我们不灰心丧胆，继续专心作工。

感谢主垂听我们在气馁时所作的祷告，并且成为我们的辩护者。主啊，求祢帮助我们，在面对批评时能明辨是非，让我们能信靠祢，继续专心作工。

Nehemiah 4:1-6  NIV

4 When Sanballat heard that we were rebuilding the wall, he became angry and was greatly incensed. He ridiculed the Jews, 2 and in the presence of his associates and the army of Samaria, he said, “What are those feeble Jews doing? Will they restore their wall? Will they offer sacrifices? Will they finish in a day? Can they bring the stones back to life from those heaps of rubble—burned as they are?” 3 Tobiah the Ammonite, who was at his side, said, “What they are building—even a fox climbing up on it would break down their wall of stones!” 4 Hear us, our God, for we are despised. Turn their insults back on their own heads. Give them over as plunder in a land of captivity. 5 Do not cover up their guilt or blot out their sins from your sight, for they have thrown insults in the face of the builders. 6 So we rebuilt the wall till all of it reached half its height, for the people worked with all their heart.

尼希米记 4:1-6 

4 参巴拉听见我们修造城墙就发怒，大大恼恨，嗤笑犹大人，2 对他弟兄和撒马利亚的军兵说：“这些软弱的犹大人做什么呢？要保护自己吗？要献祭吗？要一日成功吗？要从土堆里拿出火烧的石头再立墙吗？”3 亚扪人多比雅站在旁边，说：“他们所修造的石墙，就是狐狸上去也必跐倒。”4 我们的神啊，求你垂听，因为我们被藐视。求你使他们的毁谤归于他们的头上，使他们在掳到之地作为掠物。5 不要遮掩他们的罪孽，不要使他们的罪恶从你面前涂抹，因为他们在修造的人眼前惹动你的怒气。6 这样，我们修造城墙，城墙就都连络，高至一半，因为百姓专心做工。

INSIGHT

灵粮透视

Have you noticed how criticism seems so justified when we give it—but so wrong when we receive it?

你有没有注意到，我们总觉得自己对别人的批评合情合理，而别人对我们的批评都是荒谬绝伦呢？

As Jewish families returned to their homeland after seventy years of exile in Babylon, they faced strong criticism. Current residents believed it was in their own interest to resist the returning exiles. They saw the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s walls as a threat to their own homes and families.

犹太人被掳到巴比伦七十年后，终于能返回家乡，但却遭受到批评攻击。当时住在那里的人为了自身的利益，抵挡这些返回的被掳之人。在他们看来，重建耶路撒冷的城墙会威胁到他们自己的家园和家人。

Just as understandably, Nehemiah and his friends felt they had a God-given right to regard as enemies those who opposed their effort to rebuild Jerusalem’s broken-down walls (Nehemiah 4:4).

同样可以理解的是，尼希米和他的同工们认为，他们有上帝所赋予的权柄，将所有反对重建耶路撒冷破败城墙的人都视为仇敌（尼希米记4章4节）。

Nehemiah’s courageous prayer of faith is a chapter in a bigger story that leads us to even higher ground. Many years later, by His own example, Jesus calls all people on both sides of conflict to find security in more than walls of self-interest. He taught all of us to pray for those who abuse us and to bless those who curse us (Matthew 5:9–12, 44). In His kingdom, it’s a heart of mercy that Christ desires.

尼希米鼓舞人心的信心祈祷，领我们进入一个更广的层面，看到面对批评的最佳方式。许多年后，耶稣更以身作则，呼吁冲突双方不要以自身利益来建立城墙保护自己。祂教导我们所有人，为那些苦待我们的人祷告，为那些咒诅我们的人祝福（马太福音5章9-12、44节）。耶稣希望在祂的国度里，人人都有一颗怜悯的心。

整理：于姊妹