Word to the Wise | “My Feet Almost Slipped”, Pt. 4

My Feet Almost Slipped 4 (Psalm 73)

The psalmist captured the false perception that many believers have about God’s justice. Many times believers lose sight of God’s goal for their lives, which is their sanctification. Listen how the psalmist describes the attitudes of the person that has lost sight of God’s holiness and has developed the wrong perception of their circumstances. The first thing Christians do when they take their eyes of God is to accuse God of ignorance. “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?” (Psalm 73:11)

Once a Christian begins to question God’s wisdom, the next thing they do is describe the wicked from a human perspective and not from a holy perspective. Listen to how many Christians think: “The wicked are carefree… they increase in wealth” (Psalm 73:12). Once the Christian has convinced himself that the wicked are doing fine without God, he begins to question his own faith. He says to himself, maybe I am wasting my time with this God. Maybe my life would be better if I just went out and lived like the wicked. Listen to the words of a believer that has accepted the devil’s lies. “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence” (Psalm 73:13). The situation becomes so confusing for the Christian that takes his eyes of God that they become depressed (Psalm 73:16).

What a sad state of affairs. The psalmist captures the incredible ignorance that God’s people exhibit today, even though he wrote more than 2,500 years ago. Many sectors of the church today have not only complained about God’s requirements for fellowship with Him, and his wisdom, they have fully embraced outright sinful behavior and call it godly. How did these groups get this way? Let me suggest to you two main reasons: (1) they began to reject the Bible as their guide for life, morality, and godliness. This process began very early in the 20th century with the rejection of biblical inerrancy and proceeded from there to make the Bible a book of fables and allegories (further on this some other day). (2) The second reason is that these groups from within the church fall in love with worldly philosophies. Paul warned us against worldly philosophies, but many in the church have yet to learn the lesson.d