Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled

In the LORD I put my trust (Psalm 11:1)
David is cool in the face of turmoil. While those around him are in a panic, David asserts his faith:

In the LORD I put my trust;
How can you say to my soul,
“Flee as a bird to your mountain?
For look! The wicked bend their bow,
They make ready their arrow on the string,
That they may shoot secretly at the upright in heart.
If the foundations are destroyed,
What can the righteous do?”
(Psalm 11:1-3)
It is a wonder to him that anyone would even think of speaking to him this way. Why? Doesn’t he know what is happening all around him? Is he unaware of all those out to get him, the wicked who want to do violence to him? Yes, he understands that, but he also knows something more important and far greater than that:
The LORD is in His holy temple,
The LORD’s throne is in heaven;
His eyes behold,
His eyelids test the sons of men.
The LORD tests the righteous,
But the wicked and the one who loves violence His soul hates.
(Psalm 11:4-5)
The fearful ones around him think that the foundations of the righteous have been destroyed. But David understands that this is impossible because the Lord is in His temple, and His throne is in heaven. The Lord still rules and reigns; His throne has not been shifted by calamity. Or as my wife likes to remind the worriers, “My God hasn’t gone anywhere.”

God has not been shaken, and He is the foundation of the righteous. The events of earth have not taken Him by surprise. He is well aware of what is going on, and He knows exactly what the wicked are up to, but it does not find Him wringing His hands.

This is David’s confidence and the reason he refuses to be full of anxiety and dread.

Many today are in a panic about the state of national and world economies. Even a lot of Christians are running scared. And that is exactly where the enemy wants you — full of worry and fear, thinking that your foundation has been, or is about to be, destroyed. But if you know the Lord Jesus, if your trust is in Him, your foundation can never be destroyed but will stand forever.

God is in His temple and His throne remains in heaven where it has always been. Jesus our King is seated there at His right hand, “far above all principality and power and might and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this age but also in that which is to come” (Ephesians 1:21). And that is where everyone who puts their trust in Him is as well, for God has “and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:6). All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to Jesus (Matthew 28:18) and He is with us always, “even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). He will take care of us, now and forever.

Let not your heart be troubled. If your trust is in the Lord, your foundation is secure.

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