| Psalm 11:4–7 There are times when we look at the world around us and wonder whether anyone is paying attention. Wrong sometimes appears to prosper. Good people struggle. Truth can be ignored while falsehood receives the louder voice. We may even look at circumstances in our own lives and wonder why God has not done something. Psalm 11 does not pretend those questions are foolish. Instead, it gently turns our attention away from the confusion around us and toward the One who sees it all clearly. “The LORD is in his holy temple.” Those words bring us back to solid ground. Everything may appear unsettled from where we are standing, but God is not unsettled. He has not been surprised by what happened yesterday, and He is not worrying about what tomorrow might bring. The things that bewilder us do not bewilder Him. We see only a small piece of what is happening. God sees the whole field. He knows the seed from the thorn. He knows the wound, and He knows what caused it. Nothing is hidden from Him. That should also encourage those who quietly try to do what is right. There are acts of kindness that will never be applauded. There are prayers no one else will hear, sacrifices no one will recognize, and faithful people whose names will never be widely known. But God sees them. Doing what is right does not become meaningless simply because nobody noticed. Psalm 11 reminds us that the Lord loves righteousness. What the world overlooks, God does not forget. Perhaps that is where some of our peace can begin. We would like God to explain everything. We would like every wrong corrected immediately and every question answered before nightfall. Often that is not how life unfolds. Faith sometimes asks us to live without knowing how God will straighten what has become crooked. But we can live without knowing everything when we trust the One who does. Peace does not require us to understand every circumstance. It grows from knowing that the final judgment of things does not rest with us. Earlier in the Psalm came the troubling question: What can the righteous do when the foundations are destroyed? Now we begin to hear the answer. We lift our eyes. There is still a throne. There is still a refuge. There is still a God who sees clearly, loves what is right, and has not abandoned His creation. The foundations around us may tremble, but our hope was never meant to rest upon those foundations. The Lord has not moved.And because He has not moved, we can take the next step. Be a blessing today. |
The Lord Has Not Moved
The dust has not yet settled.
Broken stones still lie
where strong walls used to stand,
and questions linger
in the places certainty once lived.
But above the trembling,
there is no trembling.
The Lord is in His holy temple.
He has not risen startled
from His throne.
He has not turned away
from what has happened here.
He has not mistaken darkness
for light,
or confusion for truth.
He sees.
Not as we see,
through the haze of fear
and the narrow window
of our own understanding.
He sees the whole field.
The seed and the thorn.
The wound and the hand that made it.
The hidden kindness
no one thought to notice.
The quiet faithfulness
that passed without applause.
Nothing is lost to Him.
We sometimes wonder
whether wrong has wandered
beyond His sight,
whether goodness offered quietly
has disappeared into the earth
like seed beneath winter soil.
But heaven is not blind.
The Lord loves righteousness.
Justice is not a stranger
waiting outside His door.
What is crooked
does not become straight
because many call it so.
What is true
does not become false
because it stands alone.
And what is good
is never wasted
because no one saw it done.
He sees.
Perhaps this is where peace begins.
Not in knowing
how every broken thing
will be mended.
Not in understanding
why some fields flourish
while others wait for rain.
Not even in seeing justice
with our own eyes.
Peace begins
in knowing there is an Eye
that never closes,
a judgment never clouded,
a righteousness untouched
by the confusion of our days.
So let foundations tremble.
Let yesterday’s stones
lie scattered upon the ground.
Let the question rise again:
What can the righteous do?
Lift your eyes.
There is still a throne.
There is still a refuge.
There is still a God
who sees what we cannot see
and remembers
what the world forgets.
The foundations may tremble.
The Lord has not moved.
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