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Psalm 16:1, 8 Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. … … I keep my eyes always on the LORD.  With him at my right hand, I will not be shaken.

In commenting on Psalm 46:1, Tim & Kathy Keller make the point: “It doesn’t say here that God will help you if you get into a strong refuge.  It says that he is that refuge”, and that is what King David is implying here in Psalm 16, knowing that “with him at my right hand, I will not be shaken”.

What a comforting truth this is as we live out our pilgrimage in a world that is not only falling apart as it waits for the new heaven and earth, but is becoming more and more hostile to God himself, and to the truth he so graciously reveals in his written Word, the Bible, and his living Word, the Lord Jesus Christ!  Tim & Kathy go on to say about Psalm 46: “Though earthquakes and tidal waves dissolve the solid world and civilisations melt, his rule is unshaken.  If God is with you, even the worst thing that can happen to you – death – only makes you infinitely happier and greater.”

So let us be determined to ‘keep our eyes always on the Lord’, trusting him alone to bring us through all the trials and uncertainties we face day by day.  Remember, when Peter kept his eyes on Jesus, walking towards him in the wind on the lake, he was safe, but when he took his eyes off Jesus and focussed only on the danger that surrounded him, he began to sink; yet, even then, Jesus stretched out his hand and rescued him (Matthew 14:25-31)!

“O soul art thou weary and troubled, no light in the darkness you see; there’s light for a look at the Saviour, and life more abundant and free.  Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in his wonderful face; and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace” (Helen Lemmel).

– Bruce Christian