trust that the service of each of us may be the better for the brief consideration we have

given.

At the close of the Sermon on the Mount the Lord likens His hearers to two builders,

the one who built his house upon a rock, and the other who built his house upon the sand.

The figures vary in different parts of Scripture, but the underlying truth remains that the

believer, while in one sense he may be said to grow and run and wrestle, is nevertheless

in another sense "unmoved".

There are two reasons for being moved that are brought to our notice here. One is

unrighteousness. There is no peace for the wicked. Figures such as the troubled sea that

cannot rest are often found in Scripture. Righteousness, on the other hand, is like a rock

beneath our feet, after floundering in mire and quicksands. The second reason given for

"slipping", as the word "moved" might be translated, is the foolish endeavour to carry our

burdens apart from the Lord.

In Psalm 15: we have six positive and six negative qualities, the possessor of which,

the Psalmist says, "shall never be moved". The reader who wishes to "search and see"

will find the following of service:

Psalm 16: 8 reads: "I have set the Lord always before me; before He is at my right

hand, I shall not be moved." This Psalm speaks of resurrection, and has a bearing upon

the passage in I Cor. 15:, which we must consider presently.

Again, in Psalm 21: 7 we read: "The king trusteth in the Lord, and through the

mercy of the Most High, he shall not be moved." There is also the magnificent Psalm

which opens with the words: "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in

trouble" (Psa. 46: 1). The earth is removed, the mountains are carried into the sea, the

heathen rage, the kingdoms are moved, the earth melts. Yet, in the midst of such

overwhelming confusion, we read: "God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved"

(Psa. 46: 5).