Verse of the Day for March 24

This comes from a song sung in the land of Judah about a strong city, and it makes a conditional promise rather than a general one.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.

Perfect peace in Hebrew is shalom shalom — the word said twice, which is how that language does emphasis. Peace peace.

But the hinge is stayed. It is a word for propping, leaning, resting weight against something — the same root used of laying hands on a sacrifice, pressing down.

So it is not a mind that thinks about God occasionally. It is a mind resting its weight on Him, in the way a tired person leans on a wall rather than glances at it.

And the tense implies continuation. Minds do not stay stayed on their own; they slide off, and have to be leant back.

Anxious thought is not usually stopped by deciding to stop. It is displaced by leaning somewhere.

Notice where your mind goes when it is not being directed. That is what it is currently propped against.