“I have set the
LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.”
Psalm 16:8
These words, written by David are admirable, as is the
rest of Psalm 16. But…in some way they
are not relatable. I admire David’s words, but I’m not sure I can completely share
in their meaning. Why?
David says, “I have set the LORD always before me….” And I have to stop right there. David’s words
here are full of Donald Trump-like bravado. Good for him. But that is not me,
in that I know that I have not
set the LORD always before me. Those words point directly and boldly at my
failings, and they are legion. As Donald trump might yell at me, “You’re fired!”
There is a worship song I really like. Made popular a
decade or more ago by the Newsboys, it has lyrics like, “I'm forgiven because You were forsaken; I'm
accepted, You were condemned….”
Great, true
stuff. But the song ends with a line
sung as sort of a long coda which proclaims, “In all I do I honor You.”
I…can…never…sing…that…line. Because
I know myself. I all I do? No way.
To my shame.
But then I’m reminded.
That is why Jesus went to the cross.
Peter puts it like this (paraphrasing Isaiah), “He himself bore our sins in his body on the tree, that we might die to
sin and live to righteousness.” (visit 1 Peter 2:24) A tremendous grace note. A grace that assures me that, “he is at my right hand, I shall not be
shaken….”
Maybe the day will come that I can write something with
as much bravado as David and be able to say, I have set the LORD always before me…
Maybe someday I will get there, or maybe at least close.
But this I know, as a truster and believer in what Christ
has done for me on the cross, I know he is at my right hand, and in spite of my
sporadic failings, ultimately I shall not be shaken.
He has done the work,
that is where the real bravado lies. Thank God!
