Things that make us to slip
"The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip" (Psalms 37:31).
I almost had a crash when I was driving last Sunday evening. When I was following my wife's car, she suddenly stepped on the brake because there was another car suddenly turned right in front her car. So I had to step on my brake quickly as well. It seems that the space between my wife's car and my car was less than a meter. And I saw a big SUV behind my car turning the steering wheel sideways. I learned later that the reason my car didn't slip a lot, despite having a quick brake on the rain, was because there was an unique device in my car brakes.
There are many times when our path of faith is slippery like rain. In other words, there are many dangers of slips on the path of our faith. I found at least three things that make us to slip in Psalms 37.
The first thing that makes us to slip is ‘envy.’
Look at Psalms 37:1b – “… Be not envious toward wrongdoers.” If there is jealousy or envy in our hearts, we will slip. A small church pastor can be envious toward a big church pastor. A poor Christian can envy the rich. In Psalms 73, the psalmist Asaph almost slipped in jealousy as he saw the prosperity of the wicked in the midst of the suffering of the righteous. Therefore, we should often check our hearts whether there is envy or not.
The second thing that makes us to slip is ‘fret.’
Look at Psalms 37:1a – “Do not fret because of evildoers ….” David told us not to fret because of those who were prospers in their ways (v. 7). What was the reason? The reason was because when we fret, it would lead us only to evildoing (v. 8).
The third thing that makes us to slip is ‘anger.’
Look at Psalms 37:8a – “Cease from anger and forsake wrath ….” Why should we cease from anger and forsake wrath? The reason is that when we're angry, it will leads us only to evildoing. I think it is very difficult to control our anger. We live in a world where there are more and more angry things. People seem to get angry more easily. That is evidence that we are losing ability to control our anger. If we have anger in our hearts, we will slip.
So how can we overcome the factors that are causing us to slip? The Bible teaches us to put the law of God in our heart. Look at Psalms 37:31 – “The law of his God is in his heart; His steps do not slip.” If God's Word is in our hearts, we will not slip. The reason is because if God's Word is in our hearts, we will delight to to the Lord's will (40:8). Then what is the will of the Lord? It is to do wisdom and justice (v. 30). We who puts the word of God in our hearts see the evildoers from the point of view of God's justice, not only knows their destruction, but believe in the truth that vengeance is God’s. So we cast the evildoers to God. Also, we don’t envy them, fret and angry against the evildoers. But we who have the word of God in our hearts responds wisely. In other words, the wise men who have the word of God in their hearts trust God to do good (v. 3), delight themselves in the Lord (v. 4), and commit their ways to Him (v. 5), wait patiently for Him (v. 7) and hope in God (v. 9). Therefore, those who have the word of God in their hearts walk the path of the Lord faithfully by overcoming envy, fret and anger. May we be able to walk the Lord’s path faithfully.
Trying to put His word in my heart,
James Kim
(Trying to keep away from envy, fret and anger)