The Slippery Slope

Do not let my heart incline to any evil 

to busy myself with wicked deeds

in company with men who work iniquity,

and let me not eat of their delicacies!—Psalm 141:3,4

Years ago, when I was learning to ski, I followed a more proficient skier down an easy slope. With my eyes on him I failed to see the black diamond sign and found myself on a steep incline, careening down the slope and completely out of control. 

This psalm addresses a similar process by which we find ourselves on a slippery slope to ruin. 

It begins with our inclinations (the “heart” is the mind in Hebrew thought) that move on to “wicked deeds." And then we get swallowed up by the crowd and it’s appetites.

Prayer is one of the ways we stay off that slope: "Do not incline my heart..." “Do not let me…” (142:4), a plea the Lord’s prayer echoes exactly: “Lead me not into temptation, but deliver me from evil.” 

I find here in this psalm another agent of grace to keep us away from destruction: the wounds of a faithful friend:

Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness;

let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head;

let my head not refuse it (141:5).

Sin is subtle. We may not know that we've gone wrong. True friends can be objective. Their reproof, if we accept it, can be our salvation.

It's hard to accept correction, but if we see the wounding as a "kindness" it can become an anointing that puts us back on the path of obedience.

Again, this calls for prayer: "Let not my head refuse it”(141:5).

David Roper

6.24.18