Shaken not stirred

With the Lord at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

Psalm 16:8

 Our puppy, Gilby, loves his lamb. There are times that he curls up with his head resting his head on the lamb - a picture of heaven when the lion and the lamb lie down together. And then there are times that he shakes it violently by the neck - not so heavenly. I’m not going to be taking him through a sheep field in a hurry.

 I wonder what kind of shaking King David was thinking of when he wrote this Psalm. I expect he was not referring to physical shaking but rather to those times when life shakes you, when your world is turned upside down like that lamb. He had those times in his life - murder threats, war, family upsets and bereavements. Yet extraordinarily, he was able to say, “I will not be shaken”.

We are in a time of shaking.

 I have never lived through an earthquake and can only imagine the terror felt recently in Afghanistan. But in my life, there have been cultural earthquakes. Some are positive like the challenges to racism and sexism but some are not. Here are some of the things that are shaking us:

          - we are living through the technological revolution. I’m sure that historians will study this era as one of extraordinary change caused by the the internet and tech. Imagine life without a smartphone now! I use google maps daily. This morning I have already done 15 internet searches. That’s not necessarily bad but this tech revolution has its dark side as porn proliferates in shady corners of the web and social media fuels crippling pressures that cause mental health breakdowns.

         - decline in faith in the UK has been accompanied by a sea-change in ethics because no God means no absolute source of morality. For centuries, there have been lying politicians but lying now is argued as justifiable.

         - ideas about identity have been shaken. The Christian view is that our core identity is as a child of God but for many, identity is now self-determined and that is fragile.

         - a microscopic virus has shaken our sense of invulnerability.

         - climate change has shaken my childhood idea that the world was just going to keep getting better.

         - the world map of power is being redrawn with the rise of China and war in Europe

         - a cost of living crisis looms here in the UK and across the world, millions are in desperate poverty.

We live in shaking times and that’s before we mention personal circumstances. Yesterday, I prayed with someone who had just heard that her daughter has a tumour. In a world that is dislocated from God, stuff happens that shakes us.

 So, this verse from Psalm 16 is a wonderful gift from God to us. God offers us deep security, to be able to say with David and with scores of other followers of Jesus who have faced turbulent times - “With the Lord at my right hand, I will not be shaken!”

Here is some of the reasons why –

 God wants to be at our right hand. God wants to be near us - that is our AMAZING WONDERFUL, GLORIOUS story, the story of the gospel. God so wants to be near us that he took the great cost of the Cross. Take a moment to look at your right hand and think about the fact that God came in Christ to be that near to you. God is that near.

 The one at our right hand wants to befriend us. Last week I walked along the river with a friend and thought - that’s why we have someone at our right hand - because it speaks of friendship. She said, “How are you?” and I knew she meant it. That’s what God is like - he wants us to tell him how we are. If today you are sad, God wants you to tell him. If today, you are over the moon, God wants you to tell him. It’s what you do with a friend.

And God wants to pour out his heart to us.  He wants us to hear him say, “With me at your right hand, you will not be shaken!”

There is deep security when we know that our loving friend is near.

 Finally, the one at our right hand is the Lord. Take a breath in awe - the Maker of lightning and thunder is beside you. Did you know one lightning bolt can continue one billion volts? No situation you face is too hard for him because he is THE LORD.

 Jesus is Lord and so we are secure, not only now but for eternity. David says, “you make my portion secure”. It is the Lord who secures our eternal inheritance, promising to lead us through this life to the next.

 What is our part? Here is the challenge - the Lord makes us secure but we have to make him Lord. David says that he continually set the Lord before him. He didn’t drag the Lord around like a shopping bag. What would David have thought of the critical, consumer faith that pervades the western church? We are called to go back to our knees to pray that ancient creed, “Jesus is Lord”, yielding all. 

When we do, we discover that there is nowhere more secure. We are in shaking times but we know the Lord of unshakeable love.  

 The Lord is at my right hand so I shall not be shaken.