A shaken-free existence

The Bible says in the 16th Psalm, "I keep my eyes always on the Lord. With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken."

When your world is rocked, what do you do? These are the questions that tend to come with earth moving events, like Hurricane Katrina. But what about losses along the way that are not catastrophic for the area you live in, but are just as big to you?

Some medicate.
Some crawl up into a ball.
Some cease to function.

David, a little shepherd boy turned king, went to his source of life, direction, and protection. 
David's king, Saul, was trying to kill him. So David ran -- to the woods, the hills, the fields, the caves. David took 400 men with him, but Saul had 3,000 soldiers. One night while Saul and his men slept, David came close to him and took some things from Saul. But he didn't kill him, as he could have. 

It was about this time that David wrote the 16th Psalm. Basically it has two ideas, "your inheritance is what you parents give you when they die, but David had an inheritance that was better than that. His inheritance came from Jehovah God. Then David makes absolutely certain that there would be no other gods for him. 

David said the Lord would teach him, that nothing or no one would move him away from what he believes, that he would always be safe and happy, that he would not got to Sheol (the Hebrew idea of hell), and David will live with the Lord now and when David died.

Then there was Psalm 16:10, which means all things to me.

"For you will not leave my soul among the dead or allow your holy one to rot in the grave," David wrote.

Wrapping this into a little present this morning, David thought (and I do as well) that God walks through our devastation with us. It does not mean we will never have troubles, but that when we do, we will be safe and happy as we walk through them.

Then, if the worst should happen, if we are to die, this will not be the end. For the "holy one" has come, and death has been conquered.

This makes the struggle all the easier.

"I will not be shaken