指教我們數算自己的日子TeachUs to Number Our Days
作者: W. Robert Godfrey 翻譯: Maria Marta
「求你指教我們怎樣數算自己的日子，好叫我們得著智慧的心。」（詩九十12）
這句話似乎常常被視為一句格言，意思是「生命短暫，要活得明智。」根據整首詩的脈絡，其意思遠不止於此，如下面我們將會看到的。作為上帝的子民，這句話是默想上帝和靠此來生活的關鍵部分。
在希伯來語聖經中，第十二節以「數算自己的日子」片語開始。這片語繼續時間的主題, 這主題在詩篇中非常普遍。思考時間會讓我們看到自己是多麽的軟弱，生命是多麽短暫：「你使人歸於塵土，說：『你們世人要歸回』……你叫他們如水沖去，他們如睡一覺。早晨他們如生長的草，早晨發芽生長，晚上割下枯乾……我們一生的年日是七十歲，若是強壯可到八十歲，但其中所矜誇的不過是勞苦愁煩；轉眼成空，我們便如飛而去。」（3，5-6，10節） 在這裏，詩篇九十篇顯示它與詩篇八十九篇關於人的脆弱的關聯：「求你想念，我的時候是何等地短少！你創造世人，要使他們歸何等的虛空呢！誰能常活免死，救他的靈魂脫離陰間的權柄呢？」（詩八十九47-48）這種關於我們軟弱的現實主義是任何真智慧的必要基礎。「耶和華啊，求你叫我曉得我身之終，我的壽數幾何，叫我知道我的生命不長。」（詩卅九4）。
人生的短暫和軟弱是世上的罪和所受的審判的後果。 詩人坦白承認罪：「你將我們的罪孽擺在你面前，將我們的隱惡擺在你面光之中」（詩九十8）。 他知道他聖潔的上帝追討罪，審判罪人。「我們經過的日子都在你震怒之下，我們度盡的年歲好像一聲嘆息……誰曉得你怒氣的權勢？誰按著你該受的敬畏曉得你的憤怒呢？」（9,11節） 認為上帝的忿怒均等於所有因為祂而作出的順服，這種想法當然是可怕的。
盡管生命短暫，和上帝的忿怒令人恐懼，然而上帝對其子民的憐憫無限，保護有力。 上帝是祂的子民的居所：「主啊，你世世代代做我們的居所。」（1節） 上帝的子民代代相傳，綿延至今，但其源頭可以追溯至創造，上帝一向保存與保護祂的子民。甚至在伊甸園，祂也曾應許要贖回祂自己的子民（創三15）。 上帝仍然是祂子民的居所，因為祂是救贖的上帝。
摩西提醒我們，人生雖然脆弱而短暫，但上帝卻是永恒的。「諸山未曾生出，地與世界你未曾造成，從亙古到永遠，你是神。」（2節）摩西將我們帶回到上帝創世之前，提醒我們上帝在時間和世界之前，並超越它們。沒有我們上帝也是足夠的，而且一向如是。摩西在第4節以另一種方式指出這點：「在你看來，千年如已過的昨日，又如夜間的一更」。時間對上帝的意義與其對我們的意義迥然有別。對我們而言，一千年是如此的漫長，以致於我們無法想象經歷它。但對上帝而言，一千年與瞬間是沒有區別的。上帝是永恒的，祂在祂所創造的時間之上。
這位永恒的上帝以祂無限的大能指引歷史的進程。摩西曾見過上帝大能，這種大能在拯救以色列人出埃及的過程中常常顯現出來，他持續祈求上帝作工的威嚴顯現在人的眼前：「願你的作為向你僕人顯現，願你的榮耀向他們子孫顯明。」（16節）因為上帝以祂的大能降予苦難，所以摩西祈求上帝也賜下福份：「求你照著你使我們受苦的日子和我們遭難的年歲，叫我們喜樂。」（15節） 假若我們需要將自己的短暫與上帝的永恒作比較，藉此來數算我們的日子，那麽我們應該祈求上帝教導我們：「指教我們怎樣數算自己的日子」。我們從來不能憑自己的力量獲得教訓。假若任由我們自己，我們不但無知，而且還以不義壓制真理（羅一18）。我們使自己信服，我們活得很長，只要健康，我們就真的相信我們的身體會永遠活著。我們需要一位教師，唯獨能拯我們脫離自我的教師就是上帝。
本文摘錄自W. Robert Godfrey所著的《Learning to Love the
Psalms》一書。
Teach
Us to Number Our Days
FROM
W. Robert Godfrey
“Teach
us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90: 12).
This
verse is often treated as if it were a proverb that means, “Life is short, so
live wisely.” But in the context of the whole psalm, it means much more than
that, as we will see. It is a key part of a meditation on God and on living as
the people of God.
In Hebrew, verse 12 begins with the words “to
number our days.” This phrase picks up the theme of time that is so pervasive
in this psalm. A reflection on time leads us to see how weak we are and how
short our lives are: “You return man to dust and say, ‘Return, O children of
man!’ … You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass
that is renewed in the morning: in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in
the evening it fades and withers… The years of our life are seventy, or even by
reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are
soon gone, and we fly away” (vv. 3, 5–6, 10). Here, Psalm 90 shows its connection
to the concerns of Psalm 89 about man’s frailty: “Remember how short my time
is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man! What man can live
and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol?” (Ps.
89:47–48). Such realism about our weakness is the necessary foundation of any
true wisdom. “O Lord, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days;
let me know how fleeting I am” (Ps. 39:4).
The shortness and weakness of human life are
the fruit of sin and judgment in the world. The psalmist acknowledges that sin
frankly, saying, “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in
the light of your presence” (Ps. 90:8). He knows that his holy God visits His
judgment on sinners. “For all our days pass away under your wrath; we bring our
years to an end like a sigh… . Who considers the power of your anger, and your
wrath according to the fear of you?” (vv. 9, 11). It is surely frightening to
think that God’s wrath will equal all the obedience that is due to Him.
Although life is short and the wrath of God
terrifying, the mercy and protection of God for His people are great. God is
the home of His people: “Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all
generations” (v. 1). Through all the generations of His people’s existence,
reaching back all the way to creation, God has always preserved and protected
His people. Even in the garden of Eden, He promised that He would redeem His
own (Gen. 3:15). God remains the home of His people because He is the redeeming
God.
Moses reminds us that while the life of man is
frail and short, God is eternal. “Before the mountains were brought forth or
ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting
you are God” (v. 2). Moses takes us back before God created the earth to remind
us that our God is before and beyond time and this world. He has always been,
and He is sufficient to Himself without us. Moses makes this point in another
way in verse 4: “For a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when
it is past, or as a watch in the night.” Time does not have the same meaning
for God that it has for us. For us, a thousand years is a time so long that we
cannot really imagine experiencing it. For God, it is no different from a very
short period of time. He is eternal, above the time that He created.
This eternal God directs the course of history
by His infinite power. Moses, who had seen the power of God often displayed in
the deliverance of Israel from Egypt, continues to pray that the majesty of
God’s works would remain before the eyes of the people: “Let your work be shown
to your servants, and your glorious power to their children” (v. 16). As God
had brought suffering by His power, so Moses prays that God will send blessing:
“Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, and for as many years
as we have seen evil” (v. 15). If our need is to number our days by contrasting
their shortness with the eternal nature of God, then our prayer to God is that
He would teach us: “Teach us to number our days.” We will never learn that
lesson in our own strength. We are not only ignorant if left to ourselves, but
we suppress the truth in unrighteousness (Rom 1:18). We convince ourselves that
we have a long time to live, and as long as we are healthy, we really believe
that we will live forever in this body. We need a teacher, and the only teacher
who can rescue us from ourselves is God.
This excerpt is adapted from Learning to Love
the Psalms by W. Robert Godfrey.