“我必安然躺下睡觉，因为独有你耶和华使我安然居住。” – 诗 4:8
当我年轻时，我渴望每天晚上累倒在床上、舒一口气说：“终于可以睡觉了！”的那一刻。现在我仍响往睡眠的，但我却不是常常渴望上床睡觉的时候到来。有时，到了晚上，我便开始为失望、懊悔、仍未解决的问题忧心忡忡 – 我害怕把这些焦虑带到床上。
在诗篇第4篇中，大卫王可能又再因儿子押沙龙的叛变（诗 3；7月8日）忧心忡忡 – 而担心很多其他的敌人更不在话下了。在这篇诗篇中，我们看到他已感到越来越绝望了。我们几乎可以看到大卫正在床上辗转反侧、把床上的被铺都弄绉了。在这里，他再次呼求神怜悯他。然而，在诗篇的中段（第4节），大卫提供了一些在黑暗中挣扎时的好建议：鉴察自己的心思意念，求神赦免自己可能犯了的任何罪。
跟着，就像我们时常在诗篇中见到的，大卫从动荡和痛苦中转而信靠神；他刻意把他的心思意念转向思想神的信实和供应。
在这篇诗篇中，尽管大卫的挣扎并没有完全消失。然而，藉着重申对神的信靠，他看到前面当走的路了。他以宣告躺下安睡和完全靠赖神的信实来结束这篇诗篇。
祷告
在我们一切的挣扎中，主啊，求你帮助我们向你呼求，凭信心转向你，又为你所赐的睡眠信靠和感谢你。阿们。
诗篇 4
1显我为义的神啊，我呼吁的时候，求你应允我。我在困苦中，你曾使我宽广；现在求你怜恤我，听我的祷告。
2你们这上流人哪，你们将我的尊荣变为羞辱，要到几时呢？你们喜爱虚妄，寻找虚假，要到几时呢？（细拉）
3你们要知道，耶和华已经分别虔诚人归他自己，我求告耶和华，他必听我。
4你们应当畏惧，不可犯罪；在床上的时候要心里思想，并要肃静。（细拉）
5当献上公义的祭，又当倚靠耶和华。
6有许多人说：“谁能指示我们什么好处？”耶和华啊，求你仰起脸来，光照我们！
7你使我心里快乐，胜过那丰收五谷、新酒的人。
8我必安然躺下睡觉，因为独有你耶和华使我安然居住。
Turning To God’s Faithfulness
“In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety.” – Psalm 4:8
In my younger days I looked forward to falling into bed at night with the sigh, “Sleep at last!” I still look forward to sleeping, but now I don’t always look forward to bedtime. Sometimes, as night falls, I begin brooding about disappointments, regrets, unsolved problems—and I fear taking my anxieties to bed.
In Psalm 4 it seems that King David may be brooding again about the rebellion of his son Absalom (Psalm 3; July 8)—not to mention his many other enemies. This psalm gives us a heightened sense of his desperation. We can almost see David twisting and turning, messing up the covers on his bed. Here again he calls out to God, pleading for mercy. In the middle of the psalm, though (v. 4), David offers some sound advice for such times of struggle in the darkness: searching one’s heart and asking for forgiveness for any sins one may have done.
Then, as often happens in the psalms, David moves from turmoil and agony toward trust. He does this by deliberately turning his mind toward God’s faithfulness and provision.
David’s struggles aren’t fully resolved in this psalm. But in reaffirming his trust in God, he sees a way forward. He ends with a declaration about peaceful sleep, a complete letting go into God’s faithfulness.
Prayer
In all of our struggles, Lord, help us to cry out to you and in faith to turn to you in trust and gratitude for the gift of sleep. Amen.
诵读: 骆云秀
片头: 张妙阳
