Read: Hebrews 12:18–29
Never Be Moved
Psalm 15:5 – “He who does these things shall never be moved .”
We are often on the move. But there is a difference between moving oneself and being moved, as Psalm 15 speaks about. Few things are more unsettling than the movement of a serious earthquake. A basic assumption we hold is that the ground beneath our feet is stable. When that assumption is violently compromised, we feel vulnerable, and afterwards even the slightest tremor can trigger anxiety and even fear. We do not like to be moved in that way.
Yet we are also shaken in other ways as well. The difficulties of life sometimes jolt us off balance, blowing us to and fro in ways that we never expected and do not wish to experience. Tragedy, sickness, anxiety, frustration, and sin can all shake us to the core of our being. What difficulties in life have shaken you up and left you in a state of fear or worry? We are not in ourselves as strong or stable as we would like to believe.
In a broken and sinful world filled with upheaval and uncontrollable forces, how can a person find true stability and security? David ends his psalm certain that he will not be moved, but why is he so sure? Where is the stable ground beneath our feet?
The NT speaks of “a kingdom that cannot be shaken” (Heb. 12:28), a kingdom that will last forever. What a place to live in! It is the kingdom built with Jesus Christ as the Cornerstone, the Rock of salvation (1 Cor. 10:4), in whom people may rest secure. But even Moses shook with fear before the Almighty (Heb. 12:28). If that is how Moses was moved, what are we to expect when it comes to our sin? The good news is that when we turn to Jesus Christ in faith we find the ultimate stability for our lives: the assurance of the forgiveness of all our sins and acceptance by God, with the promise of eternal life with him.
This confidence does not exempt us from hardships; the forces of evil seek to shake believers away from the Lord, and sometimes Christians are indeed shaken in dramatic ways. But they have the supreme comfort of knowing that they belong to the kingdom that may not be shaken. Each of us who trusts in Christ may confess with confidence, “I shall never be moved.” That is solid ground indeed.