Noticeably in Psalm 94, the ungodly people have a poor view of God. Observe the evidence in verses 3-11 how the wicked are unconcerned about what God sees and what God knows:
- v. 4 “All the evildoers boast in arrogant words.”
- v. 5 “They crush people of God.”
- v. 6 “They murder the fatherless.”
- v. 7 “They say the Lord does not see.”
The psalmist concludes in verse 8, “O fools, when will you be wise?” In verse 18, the psalmist shares, “My foot slips, but your steadfast love holds me up.” As a result, we can clearly see that there should be a difference between the ungodly and the psalmist who has a genuine walk with God.
I want to continue the discussion on the topic of View of God, but I want to apply it to a specific arena of sin: porn. When we help people (both men and women struggle in this arena) who have an addiction to porn or who are headed down this pathway, it is necessary to pry open the doorway marked View of God in their hearts. What do we find inside the room? Will those people recognize the steadfast love of God, or will they doubt His love and give into the porn?
If I can continue the imagery for a moment, let’s suggest that inside the door is a room with sayings on the wall: “God is good”–one saying on the wall. “God is sufficient,” says another. “God is everywhere.” And in the back corner is one which says, “God knows everything.” Great. That is what the walls of our mind suggest to us. And we would say that we believe those things. But our true or functional view of God is quite different if we are involved with pornography. “God is holy” may just be a nice, quaint saying if we don’t believe it has relevance to our struggle with our lust for more images of people in immoral, internet websites. We don’t seem to really think a holy God will pay much attention to us. We can hide in an office, bedroom, or café, fooled into thinking that God does not see.
Anyone who has been a Christian for a while has a sense of who God is and what He is like. But those attributes, for some folks, may not do much for daily life. In fact, our daily choices and sins may actually suggest the opposite. We are a functional atheist or at best a functional deist (God is great enough to create the world but he has left it to go its own course and left “me” to pick and choose my poison).
What are the functional problems for a person who struggles with porn?
I don’t really believe God sees me. Sins that involve hiding behind the door of my house, my bedroom, or some other seemingly anonymous place, is simply giving me the sense of being hidden. I feel if neighbors do not see and know, then God does not either. This God I believe in, seems removed, distant, un-involved in my life.
I don’t really believe God loves me. Since the Bible says that God corrects those he loves (Heb. 12:6-8), then if I think God sees me and loves me, then I know he will correct me and chasten me when I am involved in my sin of the flesh. This un-involved God seems not to care about my struggle or my problems because I’m getting away with my sin for a time.
I don’t really believe God is sufficient. He supposedly will give me what I need. and He will satisfy my soul. But not so is the soul of the porn-seeker. He feels he must have another look. He cannot help but spend some time online today on certain sites. Why? His soul longs for something other than a God who seems outdated or far away.
I doubt God’s faithfulness. Life has gone okay in the past, but it seems to be falling apart right now. My debt, my work schedule, my family problems, and things like my truck and the dryer that broke down at the same time all suggest that God is out-to-lunch right now. He is letting things go. He is not faithful. The work of “carrying the support of the universe” is too much for God to pay attention to me. This thinking is of course a view from a first-world country where we are accustomed to life going smoothly because of the abundance of our possessions. God is supposed to keep a smooth life on track. Otherwise, He is not faithful, so I find refuge (another of God’s characteristics that I’m neglecting to acknowledge) in my online porn addiction to make me feel better because my ducks were not in a row.
We could perhaps go through most of the list of God’s attributes and find some connections to our sin and its hold on us. We play the Christian game, but we do not get honest about our sin because we feel like this is the way life will be; therefore, we might as well just keep plodding and sinning. After all, “God does not seem to care.” And if he tries to get our attention, in love, we just ignore that love and grasp onto our twisted view of God. Our view of God is just plain messed up.
The solution? These characteristics of God–His omnipresence, His love, His sufficiency, His faithfulness–must be real for me. I must believe them to be true. My heart must be guarded with these living truths. Bottom line–this is the process that I include in Soul Purity http://www.coatscounsel.net/soul-purity/, an 8-week study, that walks alongside someone who struggles with sexual addiction. It’s not the putting off of the sin which certainly must happen. It’s the putting on of my very real God.
