作者 John Piper  

星期天早上五點整，天並不黑，只是沒有色彩。所有的東西都是黑色、白色或者灰色的，只有馬路對面修車廠裡發出的橘紅色燈光，照亮了我臥室的窗戶。窗外沒有一點風，白楊樹的葉子完全靜止，好像在一張抓拍照片上的一樣。星星都不見了，太陽還沒有升起，所以分不清灰色的天空是晴還是陰，好在天很快就要放亮了。

我坐在床沿上，試著思索關於睡覺的神學。我們需要睡眠，為甚麼神要如此設計――我們生命的三分之一是在睡覺中度過？想想吧，我們生命的三分之一過得像一個死人！再想想，如果神不這麼設計，我們不是必須睡覺，那麼我們可能會完成每一件未完成的事情。毫無疑問，神完全有能力創造出不需要睡眠的我們。那樣的話，大家就可以投身於兩份事業，不覺疲憊。每一個人都可以成為一個“全職服侍人員”，同時還保留著自己的工作，因為天父有如此多的事工需要我們去做。

為甚麼神設想出睡覺這回事兒？他從不睡覺！這個想法是從“無”到“有”的。他為地上的創造物想出了睡覺這回事兒。可是為甚麼？！《詩篇》127章2節說：“你們清晨早起，夜晚安歇，吃勞碌得來的飯，本是枉然；唯有耶和華所親愛的，必叫他安然睡覺。”根據這節經文，睡覺是愛的禮物，但是這個禮物常常被焦慮的陷阱破壞。安睡是焦慮的反面。神希望自己的孩子信任他，而不是焦慮。因此我可以推論，神創造睡眠是為了不斷地提醒我們：不要焦慮，應該在他裡面享受安息。

每一天，上帝借著睡覺這件事提醒我們，我們不是神。“保護以色列的，也不打盹，也不睡覺。”（詩121:4）但是以色列會打盹，也會睡覺。我們不是神。每天一次，神讓我們躺在床上，像得了某種病的病人一樣。這種病就是長期以來我們認為自己可以控制一切、自己的工作不可替代。為了治愈這種病，神每天都讓我們有一次毫無作為的經歷。一個好強上進的公司經理竟然每一天都不得不放棄所有的控制力，變得像吃奶的嬰兒一樣柔弱，真是讓人不好意思！

睡眠是一個比喻，說明神才是神，而我們不過是人。神使這個世界明媚可愛，同時讓另外的半球在沈睡。睡眠像是被打破的記錄，每天帶著同樣的信息回來――“人不是主宰！人不是主宰！人不是主宰！”不要錯過這個教訓。神希望我們信賴他，他才是從不疲倦從不睡覺的偉大的工作者。他並不看重我們早起晚睡地工作，卻希望我們把所有的焦慮拋給他，並在他裡面安睡。

願你們平安。

約翰牧師

作者：約翰·派博.©渴慕神.網址: desiringGod.org

A Brief Theology of Sleep

At 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning the world is not dark, but there is no color. Everything is black and white and grey, except for the orange light on the garage across the street that shines through my bedroom window. There is no breeze, and the poplar leaves are caught like a snapshot in stillness. The stars are gone but the sun is not up yet; so you can’t tell if the grey sky is overcast or clear. Very soon we will know.

I sit on the edge of my bed trying to develop a theology of sleep. Why did God design us to need sleep? We sleep a third of our lives. Just think of it: a third of our lives spent like dead men. Just think of everything being left undone that could be done had God not designed us to need sleep. There is surely no doubt that he could have created us with no need for sleep. And just think, everyone could devote himself to two careers, and not feel tired. Everyone could be a “full-time Christian worker” and still keep his job. There is so much of our Father’s business we could be about.

Why did God imagine sleep? He never sleeps! He thought the idea up out of nothing. He thought it up for his earthly creatures. Why! Psalm 127:2 says, “It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved in his sleep.” According to this text sleep is a gift of love, and the gift is often spurned by anxious toil. Peaceful sleep is the opposite of anxiety. God does not want his children to be anxious, but to trust him. Therefore I conclude that God made sleep as a continual reminder that we should not be anxious but should rest in him.

Sleep is a daily reminder from God that we are not God. “He who keeps Israel will neither slumber nor sleep” (Psalm 121:4). But Israel will. For we are not God. Once a day God sends us to bed like patients with a sickness. The sickness is a chronic tendency to think we are in control and that our work is indispensable. To cure us of this disease God turns us into helpless sacks of sand once a day. How humiliating to the self-made corporate executive that he has to give up all control and become as limp as a suckling infant every day.

Sleep is a parable that God is God and we are mere men. God handles the world quite nicely while a hemisphere sleeps. Sleep is like a broken record that comes around with the same message every day: Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Man is not sovereign. Don’t let the lesson be lost on you. God wants to be trusted as the great worker who never tires and never sleeps. He is not nearly so impressed with our late nights and early mornings as he is with the peaceful trust that casts all anxieties on him and sleeps.

In quest of rest,

Pastor John

By John Piper. © Desiring God. Website: desiringGod.org