What does "I shall not be moved" mean (Psalm 16:8)?

He "set Jehovah always before him." He was conscious that Jehovah was "at his right hand," and therefore He said, "I shall not be moved." There was purpose of heart with Him. His face was set in the right direction, for He "set the Lord always before him." How good to have God before one, and therefore at the "right hand."

We, too, are called to walk with God, and it is our privilege to be ever conscious that He is at our right hand. There is no failure on His side, and if we do His will, He is always at hand. (Phil. 4:5.) The apostle could say, "Nevertheless the Lord stood by me," and it was indeed a trying moment when Paul experienced this.

The same may be said of verse 8. Only the Lord Jesus could say, "I have set the Lord always before me." Though we may honestly set Him before our eyes, yet too frequently our eyes turn away and we slip into disobedience; but His one Object was the glory of God, from which He never swerved in the least degree. Recognizing God as at His right hand, he would not be moved, never shaken, never undecided. A believer might say, "I shall not be greatly moved" (Ps. 62:2), but how little it takes sometimes to move us from the path of simple faith.

To tread the path of life it is not enough to have divine counsel and spiritual intelligence, we also need divine support. This too is seen in perfection in the Lord's path as a Man. He could say, "I have set the LORD always before Me," and, having the LORD before Him, He was conscious of the LORD with Him, — "He is at my right hand;" and with the LORD at His right hand, He can add, "I shall not be moved." It is our privilege to follow the Lord in this path, though He alone could say, "I have set the LORD always before Me." Alas it is not "always" with us; we have not "always" the single eye that has no object but Christ. If it is not money or some gross object, it may be self in some form that we have before us. Self-ease, self-gratification or self-exaltation may obscure the vision of our souls; but when the eye is single — when Christ is the one object — then indeed we shall have the sense of the Lord's presence with us, and, when He is with us, we "shall not be moved." In the world around there may be a babel of contending voices, and amongst the people of God much confusion, but supported by the Lord we shall not be moved.

Fifthly (verse 8), the word of God will ever lead to God, Himself. So Christ, as a Man on earth, can say, "I have set the LORD always before Me." Good for us when the written word leads our hearts to the living Word; when we search through all the Scriptures, not simply to gain a better acquaintance with the letter, but to seek for "the things concerning Himself". Then, indeed, Christ becomes our Object. With Christ there is no failure, for He can say, "I have set the LORD always before Me." With ourselves this may be true sometimes: who but Christ could say "always". Yet to have Christ before us as our Object is surely the secret power for treading the path of life, and the measure of our spirituality. The result of having Christ before us is blessedly set forth in the words that follow, for Christ can say, "Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." Setting the Lord before us, we shall find that the Lord is with us. He cannot fail those who make Him their object. If He is with us, He will maintain us, so that, however trying the circumstances, whatever the insults and opposition we may have to meet, we shall not be moved. Alas! too often a trifling circumstance, not to mention the deliberate insults of opposers, may move us to speak and act in the flesh, only to reveal how little we have the Lord before us. The apostle Paul could say, "For me to live is Christ." Having Christ as his Object, he could also say, when faced with "bonds and afflictions", that "None of these things move me" (Philippians 1:21; Acts 10:23-24).

Sixth (verses 9, 10) with Jehovah before Him as His Object, and with Him at His right hand, the Lord could tread the path of life with gladness in His heart, even though that path led through death and the grave. He went into death in the sure and certain hope that Jehovah would not leave Him in the grave. Having been through death He has destroyed its power for believers so that if we are called to pass through death we shall find that the One who has already been through death is with us. With the Psalmist, we shall be able to say, "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for Thou art with me."

Thirdly, looking to the LORD for his help, the soul is assured that the help of the LORD is always available. A friend at our right hand is a friend at our side, to whom we can turn at any moment. So David can say, "I have set the LORD alway before me: because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." The wicked man, trusting in himself, "said in his heart I shall not be moved," only to come under the judgment of the LORD (Psalm 10:6, 16). The godly man, trusting in the LORD at his right hand, can say, "I shall not be moved." Moreover, he can say it with the utmost confidence, for if the Lord says, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee, … we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do to me" (Heb. 13:5-6). How good to realise there is a Friend beside me, to whom I can turn — One with all wisdom to guide in every difficulty, with all the power to overcome every opposition, with all sympathy in every sorrow, and all grace for every weakness, and mercy for every need.

For Him who could say, "I have set Jehovah always before Me," what was the result? "Because He is at my right hand, I shall not be moved." There was no tottering, no unsteadiness in His steps: no circumstances, no power of the enemy, could hinder or turn Him aside. All other aims may be defeated, all other hopes frustrated; but where God is before the soul, it can never miss its aim: this is the secret of all prosperity and success. If we have set the Lord before us, we may go forward with the fullest and most assured confidence. And this is, in fact, found in such a course. What hinders faith like a double mind? What strengthens it like a single eye? How can we trust God for a selfish project? How doubt that He will fulfill His own mind? In the path of faith it is that we find faith for the path; and there alone.

Setting the LORD before Him, he found the LORD was ever at hand to support Him. Moreover, being at His right hand to support, nothing moved Him from the path of life.

Such is the path open to the believer. Alas! we have to own how little we know of its blessedness; and yet, if day by day, we set the Lord before us as our one object: to serve Him, to please Him, to do His will, shall we not find that He will be at our right hand to support us? And being supported, we shall not be moved, or turned aside, by any trying circumstances, opposition, slights or sufferings we may be called to meet.

Good for us to follow in the steps of the Lord, Himself, Who could say, as He passed through this world, "I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand. I shall not be moved" (Ps. 16:8). If we set the Lord before us we shall indeed find Him at our right hand, One who will never fail us.

"I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand, that I should not be moved, therefore did my heart rejoice, and my tongue was glad." What is it that renders a man superior to circumstances, and makes him behave rightly (i.e. according to God) in the midst of them? Nothing, but a right object before him, and a right motive within him.

Never was zeal like the zeal of the Lord. He could say, "The zeal of Thine house has eaten Me up," and yet He had to say, "I have laboured in vain, I have spent My strength for nought and in vain." Never, too, was the condition of Israel more terrible than when the Lord laboured in their midst. Again, how truly the Lord could say in the day of His humiliation, "They seek My life to take it away." But in spite of His zeal and His labour being in vain, in spite of the condition of the people, and though again and again they sought to take His life, yet He never for an instant swerved from the path of perfect obedience to the Father. He never sought the safe retreat of some lonely cave. He held on His perfect way in the path of obedience to the Father, and unselfish service to men. Do we wish to know the secret of that lovely life? We learn it when we hear Him say, "I have set the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved" (Ps. 16:8). Moreover He looked not at the rough ways He had to tread, but at the glorious end of the journey. "My flesh also shall rest in hope … Thou wilt show Me the path of life; in Thy presence is fulness of joy; at Thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore."