60 Seconds – Unshaken and Undisturbed

An accountant for a large New York company presented the annual financial report to the owner. The accountant had known for a long time how it looked.

“A bad year, sir,” the young man said as gently as possible, “but business should improve soon.” In silence, the owner scanned the report, seeing vast losses and small gains. From all appearances, bankruptcy was a possibility. Finally, he spoke in a low and steady voice, “It has been a good year, John, — in spite of everything. I think it has been the best year I have ever had. Every one of those figures ‘in the red’ represent hours of agony and prayer. Those experiences have made me rich in hope, so rich that I cannot despair over any other loss. The future looks bright to me, for God has said that ‘no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly!”

David said, “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved” (Psalm 16:8). The word “moved’ means, “agitated, shaken, disturbed.” His testimony was, “God is with me, therefore problems, evils, etc., will not cause me to be shaken nor disturbed.” J. Hudson Taylor stated, “Each worker for Christ, in his own particular sphere, meets with many valleys and mountains, crooked places and rough ones, which God alone can deal with. Let him rejoice not only that God’s power is equal to the occasion, but also that there are difficulties of such a nature as to make the putting forth of that power a visible and notable thing.”

In Psalm 46, we are assured, “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in the time of trouble” (verse 1). “Ever present” means “always here, always available, with unlimited access.” In a letter of Jeroninus Segerson (1551), written in the prison at Antwerp to his wife, who was also incarcerated there, he wrote:

“In lonesome cell, guarded and strong I lie,
Bound by Christ’s love, His truth to testify,
Though walls be thick, the door no hand unclose,
God is my strength, my solace, and repose.”

“The tree on the mountain takes whatever the weather brings. If it has any choice at all, it is in putting down roots as deeply as possible” (Corrie Ten Boom).