教我們數算自己的日子TeachUs to Number Our Days
作者：葛福瑞（W. Robert Godfrey）譯者: 駱鴻銘
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。（詩篇九十12）
這節經文通常被視為一句箴言，意思是「生命短暫，所以要明智地生活。」但在整篇詩篇的背景下，它的意味更為深長，正如我們將要看到的。它是默想上帝和以上帝子民的身分生活的關鍵。
在希伯來文中，第12節是以「數算我們的日子」開頭的。這句話道出了貫穿這首詩篇的主題：時間。對時間的反思使我們看到我們是多麼軟弱，生命有多麼短暫：「你使人歸回塵土，說∶『世人哪！你們要歸回塵土。』...... 你使世人消逝，像被洪水沖去；他們好像睡了一覺；他們又像在早晨生長的草，早晨發芽生長，晚上就凋萎枯乾...... 我們一生的年日是七十歲，如果強壯，可到八十歲，但其中可誇耀的，不過是勞苦愁煩；我們的年日轉眼即逝，我們也如飛而去了。」（第3節，第5～6節，第10節；新譯本）。在這裏，詩篇九十篇顯示了它與詩篇八十九篇關於人的脆弱的擔憂：「求你記念我的一生多麼短暫，你創造的世人是多麼虛幻呢！有哪一個人能長活不死，能救自己的性命脫離陰間的權勢呢？」（詩八九47～48；新譯本）。這種對於我們軟弱的唯實主義看法，是任何真實智慧的必要基礎。「耶和華啊！求你使我知道我的結局，我的壽數有多少，使我知道我的生命多麼短促！」（詩篇卅九4；新譯本）。
人生的短暫和脆弱是世上的罪惡和審判的結果。詩人坦率地承認這種罪，說道：「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會追討祂對罪人的審判。「我們一生的日子都在你的震怒中消逝，我們度盡的年歲好像一聲嘆息；...... 誰曉得你怒氣的威力，誰按著你該受的敬畏曉得你的忿怒呢？」（第9、11節；新譯本）。認為上帝的忿怒會抵消掉祂配得的所有順從，這當然是可怕的。
生命雖然短暫，且上帝的忿怒令人害怕，但上帝對祂子民的憐憫和保護卻是偉大的。上帝是祂子民的家：「主啊，你世世代代作我們的居所。」（第1節）。藉著祂的百姓世世代代的存在，一直追溯到創造的一開始，上帝一直保存和保護祂的子民。即使在伊甸園裏，祂也應許要救贖屬祂自己的人（創三15）。上帝一直是祂子民的家，因為祂是救贖的上帝。
摩西提醒我們，雖然人的生命脆弱而短暫，但上帝卻是永恆的。「諸山未曾生出，地與世界你未曾造成，從亙古到永遠，你是上帝。」（第2節）。摩西帶領我們回到上帝創造全地之前，提醒我們，我們的上帝是在時間之前，超越時間、超越這個世界。祂一直都在那裏，祂自己是圓滿具足的，並不需要我們。摩西在第4節中以另一種方式闡述了這一點：「在你看來，千年如已過的昨日，又如夜間的一更。」時間對上帝來說，和對我們的意義並不相同。對我們而言，一千年是一段漫長的時間，我們無法想像它到底有多長。但對於上帝來說，這與很短的時間並無二致。祂是永恆的，超越了祂所創造的時間。
這位永恆的上帝以無限的能力指揮著歷史的進程。曾看見上帝的能力經常顯明在拯救以色列離開埃及的過程中的摩西，繼續祈求上帝的聖工所顯明的威嚴會繼續展現在百姓眼前：「願你的作為向你僕人顯現；願你的榮耀向他們子孫顯明。」「（第16節）。正如上帝藉由祂的能力所帶來的痛苦，所以摩西祈求上帝賜福給他們：「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。」（第15節；新譯本）。如果我們有必要藉由將我們日子的短暫與上帝的永恆本質加以對比，以數算它們，那麼我們就該向上帝祈求，求祂教導我們：「教我們怎樣數算自己的日子。」我們永遠不會靠自己的力量獲得教訓。如果任憑我們自己，我們不僅會無知，更會在不義中壓制真理（羅一18）。我們說服自己，只要我們保持健康，就還有很長的時間可活，我們真的相信，我們將永遠活在這個身體裏。我們需要一位教師，而唯一可以拯救我們的教師就是上帝。
這段摘錄改編自葛福瑞（W. Robert Godfrey）所著的Learning to Love
the Psalms（暫譯：《學會喜愛詩篇》）。
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.
