一位心理醫生在他的諮詢專欄中，回應一個名叫茹蘭的讀者。茹蘭哀嘆自己雄心勃勃地追求所嚮往的一切，最後卻得不到滿足，而這位心理醫生很直白地說：「人類受造並不是為了獲得快樂，而只是為了求生存與繁衍後代。」接著，他又說：「人類天生想要追求滿足，但這就像是妄想捕捉誘人且難以捉摸的彩蝶，往往只會讓我們白忙一場，求而不得。」

我心想，當茹蘭讀到這種虛無且悲觀的回應時，不知有何感想？但她若讀了詩篇131篇，感受必截然不同。在這首詩篇，大衛引導我們細思如何得到滿足。大衛一開始就展現謙卑的態度，放下一國之君的雄心壯志，對人生中許多重大難懂的事件，他也全擱在一旁（1節）。接著他以平穩安靜的心來到上帝面前（2節），將未來交託在上帝手中（3節）。這帶來了美好的結果，大衛說：「我安適滿足，像斷奶的嬰兒倚偎在母親懷裡。」（2節，現代中文譯本修訂版）

在我們這敗壞的世界裡，追求滿足有時就像水中撈月。使徒保羅在腓立比書4章11-13節說，滿足是需要經過學習的。但我們若相信人生在世不過是「求生存與繁衍後代」，那麼追求滿足就真的只是鏡花水月一場空。大衛告訴了我們獲得滿足的方法：來到上帝面前安靜歇息，可以獲得滿足。

In a psychiatrist’s advice column, he responded to a reader named Brenda, who lamented that her ambitious pursuits had left her discontented. His words were blunt. Humans aren’t designed to be happy, he said, “only to survive and reproduce.” We’re cursed to chase the “teasing and elusive butterfly” of contentment, he added, “not always to capture it.”

I wonder how Brenda felt reading the psychiatrist’s nihilistic words and how different she may have felt had she read Psalm 131 instead. In its words, David gives us a guided reflection on how to find contentment. He begins in a posture of humility, putting his kingly ambitions aside, and while wrestling life’s big questions is important, he puts those aside too (v. 1). Then he quiets his heart before God (v. 2), entrusting the future into His hands (v. 3). The result is beautiful: “like a weaned child with its mother,” he says, “I am content” (v. 2).

In a broken world like ours, contentment will at times feel elusive. In Philippians 4:11–13, the apostle Paul said contentment is something to be learned. But if we believe we’re only designed to “survive and reproduce,” contentment will surely be an uncatchable butterfly. David shows us another way: catching contentment through quietly resting in God’s presence.