阅读经文 

难道只有我对诗人在这里提出的问题感到困惑吗？“人能把我怎么样呢？”

我想我们都知道诗人在这里说的是什么，但人可以很坏的！他们可以在言语上、情感上、心理上和身体上伤害我们。我猜想，我们都经历过这些伤害中的至少一种，如果不是所有伤害的话。我不一定每天生活在对身体伤害的恐惧中，但有些人确实如此——那可能是毁灭性的。然而，我确实生活在被人们的言语所伤害的恐惧中。每次打开电子邮件，我都害怕别人会对我做的事情说什么。

不过，诗人还是和我们一样知道这一切。他被人追杀，受到身体伤害的威胁。但即使在威胁和危险中，他也能向神感恩，承认耶和华与他同在，并确信人不能最终毁灭他。

虽然人可能能够伤害我们的身体或思想，但他们不能伤害我们的灵魂。虽然人可以在这个世界上伤害我们，但他们不能永远伤害我们。这就是诗人想让我们听到的信息。我们在这世上并不能保证健康和安全。但我们不需要害怕这世上的任何人能对我们做什么。他们不能掌控我们的命运。有神同在，我们可以确定我们的命运在祂的手中。

Am I the only one who balks at the question that the psalmist asks here—“What can mere mortals do to me?”

I think we all know what the psalmist is getting at here, but people can be mean! They can hurt us verbally, emotionally, psychologically, and physically. And my guess is that we’ve all experienced at least one of those hurts, if not all of them. I don’t necessarily live in daily fear of physical harm, but some people do—and that can be devastating. However, I do live in fear of being hurt by people’s words. Every time I open my email, I’m afraid of what someone else might say about something I did.

Still, the psalmist knew all of that as well as we do. He was pursued and threatened with bodily harm. But even in the midst of threats and dangers, he was able to give thanks to God, confess that the Lord was with him, and be certain that mere mortals could not ultimately destroy him.

While people might be able to hurt our bodies or minds, they can’t hurt our souls. And while people can hurt us in this world, they can’t hurt us forever. That is the message the psalmist wants us to hear. We aren’t assured of health and safety on this earth. But we don’t need to fear what anyone on this earth can do to us. They cannot control our destiny. With God, we can be certain that our destiny is in his hands.