“万民都举目仰望你，你随时给他们食物。” - 诗 145:15
我在孟加拉国居住和工作时，记忆中有一个最令人心碎的景象，就是见到几个明显地是营养不良和饥肠辘辘的小孩，他们在垃圾中找到一本光鲜的杂志，便瞪大眼睛看着杂志里面一些美味食物的图画。其中一个小孩更把杂志举起到她的嘴前、然后舔图画上的蛋卷冰淇淋。
我们到那里是要缓解饥饿问题和对抗它的原由-贫穷-但面对这些痛苦，我感到非常无助和无力。我使用诗篇145篇的内容发出悲叹：“主啊，你何时才给他们食物？现在岂不是适当的时候吗？”
自从在1990年代初期那些日子，经历饥饿和缺乏食物的人数已见减少，因为各种贫穷援助计划已经在增加了。我为此感恩，也感谢率先引领这个使命的机构。然而那些小孩子的形像仍然萦绕我心，这是不难理解的，因为在今天，饥饿的问题又再次变得日益严重了。今天晚上，将会有超过7亿8千万人空着肚子上床睡觉的。神看重他们每一个人，我们也应该看重他们。
我必须为他们祷告，当我这样做时，我知道神已经呼召了我，去为我的祷告蒙应允得实现贡献部份力量。
祷告
神啊，贫穷和饥饿使那么多的苦难临到你所爱的人，我们为这个事实悲叹。我们知道你看重他们每一个人。我们祈求你的怜悯临到他们，又求你使用我们来成就你的旨意。奉基督祈求，阿们。
诗篇 145:14-21
14凡跌倒的，耶和华将他们扶持；凡被压下的，将他们扶起。
15万民都举目仰望你，你随时给他们食物。
16你张手，使有生气的都随愿饱足。
17耶和华在他一切所行的无不公义，在他一切所做的都有慈爱。
18凡求告耶和华的，就是诚心求告他的，耶和华便与他们相近。
19敬畏他的，他必成就他们的心愿；也必听他们的呼求，拯救他们。
20耶和华保护一切爱他的人，却要灭绝一切的恶人。
21我的口要说出赞美耶和华的话，唯愿凡有血气的都永永远远称颂他的圣名！
Hungry Eyes
"The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food at the proper time." - Psalm 145:15
One of the most heartbreaking scenes that I remember from living and working in Bangladesh was when I saw a couple of children, who were obviously malnourished and hungry, staring at pictures of delicious food in a glossy magazine they had found in the garbage. One of the children lifted the magazine to her mouth and licked a picture of an ice-cream cone.
We were there to help alleviate hunger and its cause—poverty—but I felt incredibly helpless and useless in the face of such misery. I groaned a lament based on Psalm 145: “Lord, when will you give them their food? Is now not the proper time?”
Since those days in the early 1990s, the number of people who experience hunger and food insecurity has declined as poverty alleviation programs have increased. I am grateful for that and for organizations that have led the charge. But those children still haunt me, as they should, because today hunger is again on the rise. More than 780 million people will go to bed hungry tonight. Each one matters to God. Each one must matter to us.
When I pray for them, as I must, I know that God has called me to be part of the answer to my own prayer.
Prayer
O God, we lament the reality of poverty and hunger that causes so much suffering among the people you love. We know that each one matters to you. We pray for your mercy in their lives, and we ask that you use us for your purposes. In Christ, Amen
