当诗人停下来自我检视时，发现了自己的第二个问题：「我这样愚昧无知」（诗七十三22）。有些事情是他知道的，但却愚蠢地选择忘记。他忘记了神在掌管，他忘记了成功和兴盛只是短暂的，他忘记了敬虔生活的整个目的，他忘记了神有最后的决定权。如果你和我也好像诗人那样回应考验，那么只能够用一句话来形容我们──我们是愚昧无知的。

诗人也发现自己有第三个问题，就是他好像动物那样出于本能的反应：「在你面前如畜类一般」（诗七十三22下）。野兽和人有什么分别？野兽不懂得理性地分析事情，牠不会站在自身以外来考虑自己和自己的行动。动物以本能回应任何外来的刺激，不会停下来思想。诗人就是这样，他没有在刺激和回应之间留下思想的空间。他一旦停下来思想，以不同的角度来看那处境，他的负面感受便立即消失。

这不是圣经的价值吗？我们阅读圣经时，牠与我们论证，告诉我们不要以本能回应事情，而是要思考。圣经给我们新的框架去理解，新的处境去论证。我们越从圣经得到理解，学习以神的眼光来思考，我们的生命就越安全、越有能力。

The second thing the psalmist learned about himself as he paused in self-examination was this: "I saw myself so stupid and so ignorant" (Psa. 73:22, TLB). There were things he knew which he had foolishly chosen to forget. He forgot that God was in control. He forgot the temporary nature of success and prosperity. He forgot the whole purpose of godly living. He forgot that God always has the last word. If you and I react as the psalmist did to trials, then there is only one thing that can be said about us - we are stupid and ignorant.

The third thing the psalmist learned about himself was that he had reacted like an animal - instinctively: "I was a brute beast before you" (Psa. 73:22b). What is the difference between a beast and a human being? A beast lacks the faculty of reason. It is unable to stand outside itself to consider itself and its actions. An animal responds to any stimulus instinctively without any interval for thought. The psalmist had been doing that - he had failed to put an interval of thought between the stimulus and the response. Once he did stop to think, and put the situation in a different context, his negative feelings immediately dissolved.

Is not this the value of the Scriptures? As we read them they reason with us. They tell us not to react instinctively to things, but to think them through. They give us a new framework for our understanding, a new context in which to reason. The more we draw our understanding from the Scriptures and learn to think God's thoughts after Him, the more secure and the more effective our lives become.