Their Foot Shall Slip

“Vengeance is mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes swiftly.”

This is the text for Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, Sinners in the hands of an angry God. He first preached this sermon at a place called Enfield on July 8, 1741. The response was electrifying. Revival broke out and a remarkable period of awakening began. What interests me in this verse spoken to Israel in the Old Testament is the subject of backsliding. God is threatening vengeance upon disobedient unbelieving Israelites. All unbelief should raise the fear of God’s reaction. He will react always. If we place ourselves in a dangerous, slippery place, we will be exposed to falling. This was Edwards’ point. This but it also exposes someone to sudden destruction. You will fall because of the slippery place and you may fall at any moment. Danger is all around and destruction is imminent. Edwards further says that these people would fall of themselves. They don’t require help or aid to fall. It is all their doing. Their own weight will push them down.

The most startling thing is that they haven’t fallen down yet because God’s appointed time for them to fall has not yet come. When that time arrives, their feet shall slip. God will not hold them up. He will let them slide to destruction. Isn’t that a terrifying thought? This is why backsliding is so dangerous.

Wilhelmus A’ Brakel (1635-1711), the great Dutch theologian says that it is the nature of the Christian to be in a position of growth. It is because we have the Holy Spirit that we are inclined to develop in spiritual things according to our new nature. Now some may develop faster and deeper than others but all believers are disposed to this. Even trees lose their leaves in the fall and are at times barren in winter. Christians have their spiritual winters. Backsliding is primarily a reference to a long-sustained spiritual winter.

There are daily backslidings by all of us. You neglect to read your Bible and to pray. You are not thinking of preparing yourself for spiritual warfare. These are daily backslidings.

They are serious because, as you well know, if you continue to neglect them, you will find yourself in a place where you will not be able to explain precisely how you arrived. It is also very important to recognize that if we know our shortcomings, and have the desire to improve and correct them, that this is a sign of spiritual growth.

Now usually when we discover our backslidings, we might conclude that we have never been right with God. We cannot believe that others are like us. We reckon them to be better than we are. In other words, we must be ungodly, but they are godly. This is typical thinking due to spiritual lukewarmness. How quick we are to forget the blessings of God in previous seasons. All of these prove that we have times of backsliding.

Backsliding is not apostatizing. There is recovery from backsliding, but none from apostasy. The danger of backsliding is that it might be the precursor to apostasy. Moses says in Deuteronomy 32 that their foot shall slide in due time. There will come a time when there will be no recovery.

But what causes backsliding? Why do we backslide? Now the first thing to know is that God may withdraw himself from us. Modern Christianity can scarcely comprehend this thought, but biblical Christianity knows it truly to be the case with us. Think of Job or David. Why would God withdraw from us? To further convince us that we need him and so deepen our dependence and reliance upon him. He wants us to be pained by our waywardness so that we will lay hold of Christ.

We will only value and treasure something more if we feel that we have perhaps lost it. The Puritans understood the value of experiential Christianity or experimental Christianity. It never ceases to amaze me how we miss this. We have conferences, preachers, counselors, books, blogs all psycho-analyzing and evaluating our problems and providing solutions, yet we are unquestionably worse off than before. The situation is not improving.

If a poisonous snake bit you, you would never sit back and analyze the situation. You would care nothing for anything or anyone until you had received the antidote. Second Chronicles 32:31 says that God left Hezekiah to himself in order to test him and to know all that was in his heart. When God withdraws from us, watch out for backsliding. Backsliding occurs when we commit particularly grievous sin, especially when we sin intentionally and against our consciences. This is an injury to the soul and God withdraws. We know this withdrawing and we feel its pain.

Backsliding occurs when we stay with small sins. We cannot let them go. Perhaps we do not want to let them go. We become worldly and fleshly. God backs away from us. Spiritual life becomes difficult and we lose sensitivity to spiritual things, especially to the Spirit of God. Backsliding easily occurs when we fail to grasp what justification and sanctification mean. Christians don’t know how to make use of Christ. They do not know how to make further discoveries of Jesus in their justification and sanctification. They do not know how to avail themselves of Jesus’ blood over and over again. This is the cause of much immaturity among believers.

Backsliding begins through neglect and laziness. You leave off your Bible reading and praying and it becomes easier to neglect it day by day. You are too tired. You would rather sit and vegetate. Your computer or television or cell-phone holds more attraction for you. The latest information about your hobby easily holds your attention. You see, the physical always attracts yet the problem is not those physical things. It’s the spiritual connection. If you find yourself in this state, guilty of spiritual neglect and perhaps known sin, then acknowledge to God that you are the cause of your backsliding.

Let your failures be a burden to you, so that you can go to Christ and give him the burden. If God has hidden himself from you, then go to the light. Get out of the darkness. If you are thinking along these lines, make no delay to be right with God. The longer you delay, the harder your spiritual recovery will be.

So be on guard against backsliding. Be miserable if you recognize your slide. Start at the beginning with Jesus. Is not that the way of the prodigal? Return and be resolved never to be like this again. Look to the promises of God for your soul by faith. You can believe God’s promises because it is God who said them. Rely on God’s Word to your heart. Trust him. He is trustworthy. He is faithful. He always receives the backslider.

If you will not do or think on these things, then you should know, that your feet will slide in due time. You will not be able to prevent that slide because God will have removed himself from you. Begin every day with the Lord acknowledging his glory and your desire for it. See yourself as undeserving, yet the recipient of grace. It is by his sovereign power and grace that he shall keep us from sliding away to ruin.