“I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” Psalm 16:8
What is stability but that ability and strength to go through the storm when, with wind and hurling rain, it is beating against you seeking to destabilize, or move one in their position of faith. If we go to the 46th Psalm, we discover several of the pressures that can face the individual believer. In this Psalm, the writer will speak of massive changes of circumstances, characterized by their uncontrollable nature. He speaks of earthquakes, the moving of mountains, and the surging surf and waves of the sea, altering landscape in such a way that one not only feels his helplessness before such power, but becomes convinced that there is but one Hope, and Certainty. The Psalmist puts it like this: “God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved.” The Psalmist makes it very clear that there is but one true answer for the believing soul, and it is not only the presence of God, but His working to save. But how does one get from just knowing the truth of God’s presence and sufficiency, to the appropriation, or the realization of it in the life? When the Apostle Paul spoke of desiring to know the “power of the resurrection,” he was not just speaking of a truth, but of power, and strength, that communicated by the Spirit of Christ for the need at hand. But how is this to be, and what are the true elements of faith that need to be in place for this to occur?
The first element is the knowledge of God, and one’s faith in God according to that knowledge. For example, the Psalmist in Psalm 46:1 begins his “song” of praise and worship, his psalm declaring the nature and person of God, and his relationship with God, by declaring that God IS “our refuge and our strength…” (v.1) How then did the Psalmist see God, and take his stand upon this truth? He planted his feet upon the Rock, which is Jesus Christ, by believing the objective truth of Scripture, and the revelation of God. Everything concerning the appropriation of Christ’s power, courage, peace, and grace, begins with who God IS. The Psalmist goes on to declare, in speaking of God, that “…there is a river, the streams whereof shall make glad the city of God.” (v.4) Throughout Scripture we see where God speaks of “rivers of living water,” the streams of which are powerful, surging, overcoming obstacles and opposition, but above all, communicating life, Eternal life to the soul. The rivers speak of the Spirit of God, whose work was not only declared by the Lord Jesus to be like the wind, that soft, comforting, and yet powerful influence upon the heart and soul, but also, like an endless, powerful river of Life, the very life of Christ. The knowledge of who God is in Christ by the Spirit is essential to faith, if one is to truly trust Him to be one’s security and stability in the storm.
The second element to implement or apply is “stillness,” that quiet resolve to look unto God in Christ Jesus. The call is to “Be still and Know that I am God.” (46:10) God is that One who in spite of the raging of the nations against Him and His Anointed, is sovereign in power, making wars to cease to the end of the earth. Quietness in the upheaval of circumstances, facing spiritual enemies and one’s own limitations alike, is essential to appropriating Christ.
There is a third element that is imperative if one would know Christ’s stability, and it has to do with an act and attitude of faith. In Psalm 16, the Psalmist writes: “I have SET the Lord always before me.” (v.8) As Stephen of old who looked “steadfastly” into heaven during his defense before the Sanhedrin, so we are called to look resolutely unto Jesus, to Him alone, as our Stability. Setting the Lord before us is essential.
Dear Father, Grant us Christ’s stability. In Jesus’ name, Amen.