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Tents of Mercy Congregation
Kiryat Yam, Israel
On my desk is a scripture card I look at a lot. It simply declares, “I will not be shaken.” These words come from Psalm 16:8.
“I have set the LORD continually before me; because He is at my right hand I will not be shaken.”
The nature of life, even without war, is fragile. When war is close, as it is now in Israel, it shakes you up. At 75, I’m far from any direct combat. Yet our country is so small, and the enemies on all sides so close, that no one is removed. The battlefield includes everyone’s mind and emotions whether they are in uniform or not.
In this psalm, David reveals how NOT to be shaken. As he freely relates in so many psalms, Israel’s worshiping warrior king often faced inner crises. “In my distress I called on the LORD (18:6)…The LORD has heard the voice of my weeping (6:8)…He brought me up out of a horrible pit, out of miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock (40:2).”
In fact, the more I review these transparently personal prayers, the more it’s obvious that Israel’s heroic leader wrestled with conflicting, destabilizing emotions while facing Israel’s enemies. His remedy? Remembering that God is ever near, at our right hand. He determined to “set the LORD always in front of me,” as the Hebrew indicates --“facing Him.”
I am learning to declare “I will not be shaken.” In these days of war, and in the tumultuous end-times before us, I believe this statement will be indispensable to you as well. When followed by “because He is at my right hand,” it becomes the rallying cry our souls must hear.
