I’ll Not Be Shaken

A few weeks ago, I told you how I started the Psalms in my yearly bible reading plan (it’s turning in to a Psalm Psummer!). As I read a few Psalms every morning, I find myself being drawn into them as they have a unique way of speaking into my life – and our life together as a church.

Yesterday I opened my bible reading app, and the Psalm was one of my favorites.  Psalm 62. In fact, with those who gathered with me to pray for the church yesterday and in the wake of Sunday’s vote, I prayed through this Psalm for the church.

The whole Psalm is great – and you should read it all! – but read the heart of it in verses 5-8:

⁵ For God alone my soul waits in silence,
    for my hope is from him.
⁶ He alone is my rock and my salvation,
    my fortress; I shall not be shaken.
⁷ On God rests my deliverance and my honor;
    my mighty rock, my refuge is in God.
⁸ Trust in him at all times, O people;
    pour out your heart before him;
    God is a refuge for us.

All we have to stand on is God, but it is God who we have to stand on.

Therefore, in spite of the fact that things might be ‘shaken’ around us (in our church, in our lives, in our hearts, in our world), we shall not be shaken. Where there is healing needed, God alone will provide it, as we trust in him at all times…

…times just like these.

So I want to encourage you to take in and believe verses 5-7, and follow verse 8: trust in him in these times, and pour out your heart before him – for he is our refuge.

And that leads me to two things you might think of doing.

First, following verse 8, we need to trust in him in these times – and pour our hearts out before him.  So, I want to invite you to another time of prayer with me tomorrow at 1PM in the Kraft Room. It is a no pressure, no conflict environment where all we need to do is pray together for our church – her healing, her future, and her mission. I’d love for you to join me.

Second, in this morning’s bible study, we read one of my favorite stories: Acts 16, of Paul and Silas being broken out of jail. But the story starts with them having been humiliated and brutally beaten. It’s midnight in jail – and they were having a VERY rough time. Maybe the worst, most difficult night of their lives.  What would I be doing on a night like that? Probably complaining, blaming other people, stewing in my anger and disappointment. And what were they doing? “Praying and singing hymns to God.” (Acts 16:25)  We should be doing the same. So, pray with me tomorrow…AND…take a listen to this version of today’s Psalm – Psalm 62 – from one of my favorite artists – and maybe even sing along (we actually did this song on a Sunday earlier this year). We might not be able to get together to sings hymns like Paul and Silas in jail, but we can still be listening to and singing the same hymn together today.

When Paul and Silas pray and sing together, the earth does shake and they are shaken! 
 
But it is God who shakes it – to loosen chains and release prisoners, and many people come to follow Jesus. My hope is that that is exactly what happens here at Central Baptist.