NEVER BE SHAKEN

Never Be Shaken You, O Lord, you keep my lamp burning You have turned my darkness to light Set my feet high on this mountain And put my enemies to flight So I will praise you as long as I live I will praise you again and again And when I walk through the valley I will not fear For you are my strength and my shield And when everything around me is overtaken I know I will never be shaken As I evaluate songs, I look to see if what they say is Biblical and true before I sing them. This song I have quoted is “Never Be Shaken” by Jared Anderson. It a great song to sing and true based on what I read in Scripture. The last phrase of the song says, “I know I will never be shaken.” As I read this I wonder how a statement like that could be true. I don’t know about you but the adverse winds of life have swayed me to and fro many times. It’s a pretty big statement to say that I will never be shaken. My momma always told me to never say always or never. But there are some things as believers that we can confidently say never about. The idea of never being shaken comes right out of Psalm 15, but there is a prerequisite. Psalm 14 focuses on the way of the wicked and Psalm 15 focuses on the way of the righteous. In Psalm 15 the believer is described as exhibiting a certain lifestyle. Beginning in verse 1, King David goes through a question and answer process to get the point across. “Lord who may dwell in Your sanctuary, Who may live in your holy mountain?” These are questions that require an answer. The answer can be found in the succeeding verses. David begins by telling us that we must demonstrate some positive characteristics: a right lifestyle, a right walk and right talk. In verse 3, David goes on to say that we must not do certain things. We must not speak negatively to each other, we must not treat our neighbors wrongly, and we must not say ugly things about each other. He then goes on to tell us that we must despise the wicked, honor the Lord, and stay true to our word. We must not be fickle, greedy or be one who accepts bribes. After going through the litany of characteristics of godly people, he gets to the best part, “Whoever does these things will never be shaken (Ps. 15:5).” So in our daily lives let’s act the way God requires of us and watch Him grant us the endurance to survive in this world. By the way, I don’t know if I have told you this before, but I love you and I appreciate your willingness to be used by God in the worship ministry at FBC Canton. Words cannot fully express how extremely proud I was of all of you this past Sunday. Keep up the great work. We can and should make every Sunday special if we commit ourselves to serving Him with the level of enthusiasm you showed on Sunday. Aaron Hodges