“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever” (Psalm 125:1).
From underneath two afghans I struggled for my phone.
“Dad’s on the way,” I texted my daughter, “have your teacher stick your lashes on for you.”
No amount of preparation or sheer will would have shaken the sickness which had hit. It demanded to be dealt with.
Each day, we wake with a schedule, a calendar, and a plan. But only God knows what each day will bring. When the bottom falls out of our day, our plan, our schedule, and our calendar …who do we run to? How do we react? The way we daily prepare and care for our hearts, minds and souls matters in moments of distress.
Psalm 125:1 reminds us of God’s unchanging character. He cannot be shaken. He endures forever. The author of the Psalm illustrates this reality through a visual God’s people were familiar with: Mount Zion. “The most appropriate symbol to illustrate the permanence of God’s people is Mount Zion,” Moody Bible Commentary explains. “Despite any geographic changes God may make when He renews heaven and earth, Zion will abide forever as the same distinct Zion of previous redemption history.”
Zion is a city, physically located on the top of a hill outside Jerusalem’s wall. Zion is the City of David, the City of God, the place Christ will rule on Earth, and an eternal Jerusalem. We cannot move literal mountains. The visual is starkly applicable today, just as it was to God’s ancient people. Our God is our Rock. Though the world is spinning with evil and disarray, we are steady in Christ Jesus. Through Him, we are eternally secure. We may be shaken, but we will endure beyond this earth to rest eternally with Him.
To trust in the LORD requires a relationship with Him. We can’t trust someone we don’t know. This is what God calls us to. In every one of us, each created in His image with specific purpose, is an innate desire to know Him more. And He meets us there, with a love we cannot comprehend fully on this earth.
The Hebrew root of trust means to be bold, secure, and confident. God loved us so much, He gave His one and only Son to save us (John 3:16). And Jesus willingly walked out the will of the Father to ensure our freedom. God saw us, not in our obedience, but our sin, and chose to save us. Jesus endured every pain and heartache on this earth to ensure it. This plan was put in place from the beginning. It would not be shaken. It will endure forever. The first two verses of Psalm 125 describe “the solid security of God’s people” (NIV).
“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion,
which cannot be shaken but endures forever.As the mountains surround Jerusalem,
so the LORD surrounds his people
both now and forevermore”
Photo credit:©Getty Images/rdonar
We can be secure in who God is, and whose we are. We are His, and the psalmist wrote, “the LORD surrounds his people, both now and forevermore.” There isn’t a greater security available in this world than the peace and hope we find in the arms of our Abba Father. Mount Zion is a solid rock. It’s also a spiritual place. Christ will return again, and set all things evil and sinful about the world right. We will suffer here on earth, but we will also experience great blessing as we live within the love of Christ.
“Zion meant the place where God was present and near to his people,” Pastor John Piper explains. “Zion became the place from which the people expected help. Zion became the source of deliverance and salvation …Zion was the place of God’s special presence among his people and it was the place where they could get help and deliverance.”
The most encouraging aspect of Christianity is the solidity of it. Historically, the prophecies and places are written on the pages of actual history. Our faith is solid. Our God is unchanging. Our Savior lives. And His Spirit lives in us. When the world falls apart, both globally, locally, and personally, we can grip onto God. Through Christ, we come to Him for help and deliverance. Our Rock and Redeemer. His mercies are new every morning. Great is His faithfulness (Lamentations 3:22-23)
When we’re tempted to forget the power in us and for us, let’s recall Psalm 125, and know undoubtedly those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be shaken but endures forever. God is always aware of our circumstances. He sees us, knows us, hears us, heals us, provides for us, goes before and behind us. Flex the muscle of the Spirit of the Living God which lives in us. In every believer. Day by day, as we let go of our grip on our schedules, plans, and calendars, He takes our days and stretches our time into beautiful moments …our lives reflective of His grace and glory.
In this world, we will have trouble. Jesus guaranteed us of it. But He also reminded us He has overcome the world. It is finished. He came to give us life to the full. Take shelter in the shade of the Rock, and live boldly through the power of the Spirit. We are called to live in a way which reflects our unshaken and forever enduring status as children of the One True God. It isn’t all doom and gloom down here on earth. The unending joy, hope and peace in Christ is available every single day, if we’ll set aside our ambitious agendas enough to embrace His plans …His calendar …His schedule …His purpose for this day, and our lives.
Sources
Moody Bible Commentary. Copyright 2014. Moody Publishers, Chicago.
NIV Study Bible, Copyright © 1985, 1995, 2002, 2008, 2011 by Zondervan.
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Photo credit: Unsplash/Priscilla Du Preez
