Cast your burden on ADONAI [The LORD], and He will sustain you.
He will never let the righteous be shaken.  Psalm 55:23, TLV

Never? Never Shaken?        Never is a big word. It’s right up there with e-t-e-r-n-i-t-y. Psalm 55 is King David’s plea for help against his enemies. Not just any enemy, someone David trusted betrayed him. Some scholars believe it was Absalom (2 Samuel 15), David’s son, who gathered an army to defeat his father and take his throne. Regardless of whom, the betrayal is real and deep.

The psalm becomes a contemplative appeal — with music. Most of chapter 55 speaks of the betrayal, its depth of pain and cruelty, but a few verses scattered through the chapter that speak of the LORD’s goodness, such as the following verse and today’s verse:

As for me, I will call on God,
and ADONAI [the LORD] will save me. (vs. 17, TLV)

So, when David looks past his betrayal, he writes of his confidence that the righteous will never be shaken. Remember when I compared never to eternity? It’s because never — or always — are intrinsically linked to eternity. Which is why we should be careful using never and always. They are big words that only an omniscient, omnipotent God can fulfill.

And this is why when our LORD says never or always, it carries its weight in eternity-ness because He has already seen it. (Yes, I just made up a new word.)

That should give us comfort, don’t you think? When His word says, “The righteous will never be shaken” then it is true, whether we feel it or not.

Jesus saying: “And remember! I am with you always, even to the end of the age” is something we can depend upon (Matthew 28:20b, TLV emphasis mine). We can count on those eternity words from the Creator of the Universe, and that it will sustain us through the trials and challenges before us. Amen?

Think More About It

How do you view never and always? Does defining these big words help you in your faith journey?

Until tomorrow, may we find comfort in those big words, my friend.

Praying for Israel

Deliver me and rescue me in Your justice.
Turn Your ear to me and save me.
Be to me a sheltering rock where I may always go.
Give the command to save me—
for You are my rock and my fortress.
My God, rescue me out of the hand of the wicked,
out of the grasp of an evil, ruthless man. Psalm 71:2-4, TLV

This is a great passage to pray out loud, my friend. Let’s pray this on behalf of Israel—especially for our sisters and brothers in Messiah. And then, let’s pray this passage on behalf of each other. Amen? Shabbat Shalom and God bless you!