“But as for me, my feet had almost stumbled; my steps had nearly slipped” (Psalms 73:2)
That was the experience of the psalmist Asaph. His steps were about to slip. He was about to stumble and fall from faith. He walked, for sometime in spiritual life, on a slippery ground and was about to fall but the Lord was gracious to him and protected him from falling. Then he wrote this psalm of praise for the Lord.
What was the slippery ground on which Asap walked? What was the situation in which he almost stumbled from faith? You will be surprised to know and find it hard to believe! Surely herein lays the most important revelation for us. The greatest temptation in Christian life is not adultery and fornication. Of course it is a sin that we have to live as far away as possible. But that is not the greatest temptation we could face. The greatest temptation is, looking at other ungodly people flourish and being vexed in the spirit. That was the temptation Asaph faced! He saw the ungodly people around him flourish in everyway and he saw many godly people suffer in every possible way. He even probably had been suffering in many ways. May be many of his prayers went unanswered. On the other hand the ungodly people were enjoying their lives.
When Asaph observed this unreasonable situation he was vexed in his spirit. See what he thought in his heart. His feelings are recorded in the 13th verse “Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence”. He thought he did a mistake in pursuing holiness and righteousness. He thought may be he would have done better if he had compromised with sin and the world. If he had been serious in adopting that kind of ideology, that would have been the end of his spiritual life. He would have surely ended up an apostate but praise God! The Lord did not allow that great calamity in Asaph’s life. God inspired Asaph to go into the holy place and meditate about the situation. When he did so he realized his mistake. He began to understand that all the joys of ungodly people are only temporal and limited to this life and this world. They may be flourishing and enjoying in this world but once they leave this world, they will enter into eternal and endless misery.
But the story is quite different to the godly people. They may suffer for a little while in this world but their eternal state is blissful and full of joy. There is no reason for a believer to feel jealous about a flourishing unbeliever. We must fix our eyes on the eternal world which is beyond the point of death. In this life as Paul tells us we must be content with what God has given us. “For we brought nothing into the world, and we can take nothing out of it. But if we have food and clothing, we will be content with that” (1Timothy 6:7, 8) because “godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6). May God grant us His wisdom!
Be the first to react on this!
Bakht Singh (1903 - 2000)
He is often regarded as one of the most well-known bible teachers and preachers and pioneers of the Indian Church movements. He was India's foremost evangelist, preacher and indigenous church planter who founded churches based on New Testament principles. He began a worldwide indigenous church-planting movement in India that eventually saw more than 10,000 local churches. Norman Grubb missionary statesman, author and teacher: "In all my missionary experience I think these churches on their New Testament foundations are the nearest I have seen to a replica of the early church and a pattern for the birth and growth of the young churches in all the countries which we used to talk about as mission fields."Life of prayer. Brother Bakht Singh was a man of prayer. He spent hours upon his knees in communion with the Lord seeking the Lord's mind regarding His will concerning the work and ministry. Therefore, the Lord also honored him and blessed him beyond any human understanding. This is one of the reasons why the Lord has used him so mightily for the edification of His Body and for the extension of His glorious kingdom both in India and abroad.