PSALMS OF ASCENT!

PSALM 125:1

Shaken
THOSE WHO TRUST IN THE LORD ARE LIKE MOUNT ZION, WHICH CANNOT BE SHAKEN BUT ENDURES FOREVER. (PSALMS 125:1 NIV)
PICTURE
Psalm 125 presents a p i c tu re o f a c o m mu n i ty dealing with challenges. The good news is that it is a community of believers who are nding security in trusting God (verses 1 & 2). However they are a community challenged to wait patiently until God removes the threat of the surrounding wicked rule (verse 3). This community is also threatened by the mixture of good and bad in and amongst it (verses 4 & 5). Such a picture is one we can all relate to when we look at the communities we inhabit: our society, our church and our own families. present your requests to God. (Philippians 4:6 NIV) Instead of anxiety there is an unhurried security among people of faith. of Israels history was like this. But, despite that, they were always Gods people (AGP). And we are AGP today. Belonging to God and being safe in Him is not down to our feelings, but down to Gods solidity. When we accept our identity in Christ we gain this solidity for ourselves. God does not love us less wh e n we a re d e p re s s e d , discouraged or in debt. He does not love us more when we serve, sacrice or share our faith. His love for us cannot be shaken, therefore it follows that when we trust him we, also, cannot be shaken.

SOLIDITY
The emphasis of Psalm 125 is that the life of a believer is characterised by solidity, not precariousness - even though our lives may feel more fragile than solid at times! Our solidity exists because God Himself built the mountain mentioned in this Psalm, and God himself gave Christians the life of faith they enjoy - and not we ourselves. We can depend on what God has built. That is sensible and inspiring. Attempting to depend on what we have built is folly because we know it is not secure.

UNSHAKEABLE
As mountains cannot be shaken, so Gods kingdom cannot be shaken, T herefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe. (Hebrews 12:28 NIV) Since we belong to the unshakeable kingdom we, too, can be unshakeable.

CONFIDENCE
The Bible and church h i s t o r y p rov i d e u s w i t h example after example of people of faith being condent despite their challenges. True faith leads to a lack of anxiety, Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving,

EMOTIONS
Solidity in God does not depend on our emotions. Sometimes we are like a thermometer reacting to what is happening - going up and down with the weather. Much

Malcolm Cox, email: malcolm.cox@iccmissions.org | ICC Missions on facebook | www.nwlcc.org