Those Who trust in the LORD
are as Mount Zion,
Which cannot be moved,
but abides forever.
Can you imagine that? God says that those who trust in Him are immovable! No matter what happens, God promises that not only will I not come to ruin, but I won't even be moved from my spot. Mount Zion is a holy place, a symbol of God's abiding and of the permanence of what God has made. In face, it's more of a symbol that a reality, given that the actual location of Mount Zion has changed at least four times in the course of the recorded history of the Jewish people. But that doesn't really matter. God's purpose in using it symbolically in this psalm is to remind us that what God has made, what God has established and ordained and decreed, will never be brought to ruin or put to shame. Have you tried to move a mountain lately? It takes a lot more than a political election or a celebrity breakup or a financial downturn. Mountains even survive those who do not believe in them or share their viewpoint about God. Try convincing yourself that the mountain nearest to you doesn't exist; then try running headlong at it on a bicycle. You'll quickly find that no amount of disbelief or disagreement makes a mountain less intractable!
To put it another way, let me ask: If I trust God, if I believe these words to be true, why would I ever get very upset at all about the way the world goes? Presidents, preachers, politicians, popes and pop stars all hold their titles because God has allowed it to be so. If God has allowed a man (or woman!) to lead our nation, I have a duty before God to pray for that person--not to pray, "God protect us from this moron"--no, to pray "God bless the leader you have ordained for us. Guide him and help me to acknowledge that the government of nations is upon the shoulders of Your Son. Thank You, God, for the privilege to have my opinion heard; but protect me, God, from self-justifying rhetoric and hateful indictment of those You have allowed to rule." If my sports team (go Bayern-Munich!) wins or loses; if my favorite contestant does or doesn't become America's Idol; if things go my way at work or church or home or not, let me remember that the sovereign God of the universe has ordained it to be so, and let me shut my mouth from complaining and rather acknowledge that it is He who stands behind all of human history, and that nary a sparrow falls from the sky nor a flower blossoms that He does not see and care about.
As I alluded to previously, the great danger of these sorts of rantings is that they often amount more or less to a means to justify myself. When I hear someone who speaks evil of the president, I'm usually fairly sure that person has a deep-seated need to justify himself by degrading those who don't agree with him. Likewise, when someone casts aspersions on another church for the way they do things, or talks about the apparent flaws in the life of a celebrity or politician with venom and spite, it all sounds to me like a need to elevate oneself by degrading everyone who doesn't agree.
For myself, I know full well that there are many people in the world who disagree with me politically, theologically, culturally and in almost every other way you can imagine. Those people are not only entitled to their opinions, but I thank God that not everyone thinks just like I do. If you wan to positively identify a small-minded person, look for someone who has an obsessive need to make everyone agree with his own opinions and preferences. It has been well said, "Small minds talk about people; average minds talk about things; great minds talk about ideas." Even in complaining about such folks, I myself am guilty of the same kind of self-justification. It's a trap we all fall into, often without any knowledge that we are.
So, to recap:
My complaint: Those who feel the need to be constantly outraged or panicked about something.
My confession: It is those very people, not their issues, that make me crazy.
My solution: (Well, God's solution really!): Acknowledge and trust that God is God of Everything; that He knows and gives permission for many of the very things people go around ranting about; that He is in control, and that He has given each believer a firm footing, held fast by the gospel truth and the knowledge of God's power, making us as permanent and unshakable as the mightiest of mountains.
My advice: When the storms of politics, culture, religion, family life, economic troubles, health worries or anything else come to bear in your life, remember Who you belong to, and remember that in His power (not your own), you are immovable. Then, dare the storms in your life to shake you--refuse to be drawn into the drama of those who don't trust Him; feel compassion, not hatred, for those who don't share your views; and trust God to be all that He has promised He is.
May the peace of Christ guard your heart, and may the trust of God's Word give you boldness, for His glory.
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