The Slippery Slope
I have inclined my heart to perform Your statutes forever, even to the end. Psalm 119:112 NASB
Inclined – How many times have you heard a warning about “the slippery slope”? It usually concerns some action you’re about to take that will inevitably lead to more bad things. The idea is that a small change causes other small changes until, as the man said, “everything comes between you and the man you wanted to be.” But there’s another kind of slope, one we often overlook. It works the same way. Small choices compiling on top of each other, pushing us toward other choices, “until at last everything makes you into the man you wanted to be.” That word in Hebrew is nāṭâ, “to extend, stretch out, spread out, bend, incline.” Choices made in the right direction can also put us on a slippery slope where the next choice is easier, and the next easier still, until at last, we get into the habit of making the right choice.
Years ago (many years ago) I had a professor who believed in the small choice slope. He taught a class on the gospel of Matthew. Students were required to produce some document every day regarding the current text. For most of us, this was a daunting task. How can you create something new every day when all your life you’d been trained to produce the final paper or the summary report. I will never forget his advice. “Put the blank sheet in the typewriter and begin.” In other words, don’t fret over what to write. Don’t plan and project. Don’t wring your hands with anxiety because you don’t have a “great idea.” Just start. Type the first word—whatever it happens to be—and keep going. “The journey of the thousand miles” stuff. And it worked. I often sat at the typewriter without a clue what to say, but I started and then things came to mind. In fact, all these decades later, I sit at the computer nearly every day and this (and 9,294 like it) is the result. I incline myself toward this slope and after more than 9,000 editions, it’s much easier.
The psalmist tells us that he had inclined his heart toward doing. The verb is ʿāśâ. He doesn’t think about doing. He does. He doesn’t wait until the “right moment” or the “motivation of the spirit.” He gets up and goes. He takes the blank page of the day and starts filling it in. Even the smallest action starts the ball rolling toward the next small action—and the next—and the next. He doesn’t wait for the “grand plan.” His grand plan is putting the first letter on the page and seeing what happens next.
This is entirely Hebraic. Do first, think later. But there is still some direction in doing. The center of his being (his heart) is on the slope toward doing God’s statutes. What are those? Well, ḥāqaq is the permanent record of God’s actions, the cut in stone record, and if I’m on the slippery slope toward those, then I am simply doing what God has done. God is gracious. I choose to be gracious. God is forgiving. I choose to forgive. God is creative. So am I. God is passionate. Me too. God is compassionate. My choice as well. Go through the Exodus 34:6-7 list and do the same. You might be amazed as the velocity of sliding down this slope.
Topical Index: incline, nāṭâ, slipper slope, ʿāśâ, do, ḥāqaq, statutes, Psalm 119:112
