I keep my eyes always on the LORD.
With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.
Ps. 16:8
An Uncertain World
Learners ask “When will we return to school? What about exams? Holidays? Matric?” Employees ask “When will I receive a full salary? How long until I find another job?” Employers ask “What do I do about my business? How do I best look after my employees?” You could add a thousand other questions. There are no easy answers. For many questions, there is, as yet, no answer. In this time of uncertainty, we feel shaken.
A Bold Claim
In this week’s psalm the psalmist confidently declares “I will not be shaken” (Ps. 16:8c). Is that mere bravado? The naïve boast of one who lives a privileged, pampered and protected life? Or, perhaps, the testimony of a “spiritual giant” whose life I cannot hope to emulate?
I believe the psalm is for you and me, however shaken and spiritually immature we may feel. Hence the “easy to pray” opening verse “Keep me safe, O God, for in you I take refuge” (Ps 16:1). It invites us to place our trust in the God whose kingdom cannot be shaken (c.f. Heb. 12:28). It directs us to the “path of life” that leads to fullness of joy and eternal pleasures (vs. 11).
Psalm 16 may be the prayer of a mature “saint”. But it is also a gift to the believer shaken by an uncertain world. Praying the psalm, we remind our soul that “apart from our Lord we have no good thing”.
Paying Attention
The crux is keeping the Lord at the centre of our attention. Parents encourage children from the side lines to “keep your eye on the ball”. The saints, the cloud of witnesses, urge us “keep your eyes always on the Lord” (vs 8). We might find such advice as exasperating as the boy who just got clean bowled; “What do think I’m trying to do?” But ask the same youngster ten years from now how he scores so naturally, and he’ll smile and say, “I keep my eye on the ball”. A skill learned through years of discipline.
So, we keep our eyes on the Lord! And friends, what a Lord we have to focus on! Jesus lived Psalm 16 like no other. He conquered death (c.f. v10) to show us the path of life (vs. 11)! And, because He is the resurrected Lord, we can expect, as we pay attention. to see him at work in our own lives!
With God for us who can be against us? Who can separate us from the love of God? As Paul writes “in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord”(Ro 8:37–39).
God Bless,
Sean.