我們前幾天一直在思考詩人在聖所中被提醒某些忽略了的事情，因此得到醒悟。是的，除非我們的思想先經歷變化，否則我們的性情不會有真正的改變。凡是只著重改變行為的心理輔導法，沒有強調改變思想的重要性，均是片面以及不完整的。沒錯，改變行為的確可能為我們帶來一些改變，但正如今天的經文指出，思想改變以後，我們才能夠經歷最大的改變。

詩人在聖所內似乎對不敬虔的人有了正確的想法，他「思想他們的結局」（思想就是明白的意思）（詩七十三17）。而接著的經文指出他對神的想法也跟著變得正確：「你實在把他們安在滑地，使他們掉在沉淪之中。他們轉眼之間成了何等的荒涼，他們被驚恐滅盡了」（詩七十三18-19）。詩人的疑問並不是為何不敬虔的人會興盛，而是神怎會有這樣的安排。如果他認為事情只是出於偶然，那麼他可能沒有任何疑問，但事實是偉大的設計師如此的計劃，令他充滿疑惑。不過，現在他看到神大能的手把這些人放在興盛和顯要的位置上，目的是要實現創造主的旨意，經文說「你實在把他們安在滑地。」留意這個「你」，也要留意「滑地」這兩個字，意思是他們的位置其實是危險的。因此，神沒有將祂所愛的人放在那個地方，而是選擇了一個雖然艱難但更穩妥的立足點來讓他們站立。

We have been seeing that in the sanctuary the psalmist was reminded of the things he had forgotten, and thus his thinking was straightened out. There can be no real change in our personalities until there is a change in our thinking. Counselling that focuses only on changing behaviour and fails to emphasise the importance of changed thinking is partial and incomplete. We may experience some change when we change our behaviour, but we experience the greatest change, as our text for today suggests, when we change our thinking.

In the sanctuary the psalmist's thinking was put right about the ungodly: "Then I understood their end" (Psa. 73:17, NKJ). The next verses indicate how his thinking was also put right about God Himself: "Surely you place them on slippery ground, you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors" (Psa. 73:18-19). The psalmist's problem, you remember, was not so much that the ungodly prospered, as that God had arranged it that way.

Had it happened by mere chance, he might not have had any difficulties, but the fact that the great Designer had planned it like this filled him with perplexity. Now, however, he sees that the divine hand had purposely placed these men in prosperous and eminent circumstances so that they could fulfil the Creator's purposes: "You" - note the You - "You place them on slippery ground." Note, too, the phrase "slippery ground": their position was dangerous. Therefore God did not set His loved ones in that place, but chose instead a rougher but more secure standing for their feet.