“Nibbling our Way to Lostness”
Psa. 119:10 “With my whole heart I seek you;
let me not wander from your commandments!” (English Standard Version)
How do you get lost? Sorry to ask such a personal question, but I’m curious as to whether I’m the only one who gets off the right path little by little.
Oh, don’t get me wrong. I can also go into what a friend of mine called, “a premeditated backslide.” Absolutely, I can!
But more often, I deviate from the right path ever so slightly. The problem is that, once I get off the path, it is so easy to keep going.
Psalm 119 exudes an intense desire to stay on the path that God has marked out. The psalm is filled with words of love for God’s words and commands, as well as motivations for obeying those words and commands. “With my whole heart I seek you . . .” (the first half of verse 10) is typical.
However, the second half of verse ten recognizes a distressing truth. The psalmist prays that he may not wander from the truth. We humans do not generally pray for something that is a slam dunk. Apparently, wandering is always an option.
Victor P. Hamilton, my beloved undergrad Old Testament professor, notes that the Hebrew root translated “wander” in verse 10 “. . . is used to describe how sheep got lost (Ezek 34:6). They simply nibble their way to lostness.”[1]
A question I need to ask myself often is “Am I nibbling myself to lostness?” I have a track record of doing that. Sometimes, the nibbling is literal. Eating just a little more than I need, and I’ve gained fifteen pounds. Not all at once, of course. I was just nibbling!
Tolerating evil thoughts. But of course, I was just nibbling. Judging others is one of my current hot-button nibbles. I struggle with this, even though I am well aware that Jesus said “Don’t!” Oh, come on! Just a little nibble of the botulinum toxin won’t hurt.
Watching/reading/listening to too much news and depressing myself is one of my current drugs of choice. But of course, I was just nibbling. (This is an incredibly now issue. I was tempted to check the internet to see what stupid things we were doing or plotting to do to one another currently. I decided to finish writing this post instead. Good decision!)
In his book, The Screwtape Letters,C. S. Lewis noted that “Indeed the safest road to Hell is the gradual one–the gentle slope, soft underfoot, without sudden turnings, without milestones, without signposts.”
Don’t nibble yourself to death today. I’ll try to avoid that as well.
[1] Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, volume 2, page 904.
Recent Comments