“He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity.”
My Notes
What Does Psalms 10:6 Mean?
"He hath said in his heart, I shall not be moved: for I shall never be in adversity." The wicked person's internal monologue reveals total self-security: I'm immovable, I'm invulnerable, adversity can't reach me. The statement is made 'in his heart' — this isn't public boasting. It's private belief. The deepest conviction of the wicked person is that nothing bad will ever happen to them.
The phrase "I shall not be moved" (bal emmot — I will not totter, I will not be shaken) borrows the language the psalms usually reserve for God or for the person who trusts in God (Psalm 16:8, 46:5). The wicked person has taken the stability that belongs to God and claimed it as self-generated. The divine attribute has become a human delusion.
The "never be in adversity" (lo ra — literally 'not evil/harm, generation to generation') extends the delusion across time: not just 'I won't suffer today' but 'I will NEVER suffer, across generations.' The wicked person believes in their own permanence — a belief that history contradicts in every generation.
Reflection Questions
- 1.What private conviction of invulnerability — 'I shall not be moved' — lives in your heart?
- 2.How does the wicked person borrowing God's language ('I shall not be moved') expose the nature of pride?
- 3.What's the difference between genuine stability (trusting God) and delusional stability (trusting yourself)?
- 4.What historical figure or personal experience proves that 'I will never face adversity' is always a lie?
Devotional
I will not be moved. I will never face adversity. The wicked person's private belief — the thing they say in their heart, not out loud — is total invulnerability. Nothing can shake me. Nothing will go wrong. Not now. Not ever.
The 'in his heart' matters: this isn't bravado. It's belief. The wicked person genuinely thinks they're immune to suffering. The conviction is sincere. And the sincerity makes it more dangerous than bluster would be. Bluster knows it's performing. Belief doesn't know it's deluded.
The 'I shall not be moved' steals God's language: the psalms say God is unmoved (Psalm 93:1). The psalms say the person who trusts God is unmoved (Psalm 16:8). The wicked person says 'I am unmoved' — without God, without trust, on the basis of nothing but their own assumed permanence. The divine attribute has been kidnapped and made into a human delusion.
The 'never be in adversity' — literally 'not across all generations' — extends the delusion into the future: the wicked person doesn't just deny present danger. They deny future danger. They believe their prosperity is eternal. History is littered with the wreckage of people who believed this — and not one of them was right.
What secret conviction of invulnerability lives in your heart — the thing you'd never say out loud but deeply believe? And how stable is it really?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
He hath said in his heart,.... To and within himself, he thought in his own mind; for the thought is the word or speech…
He hath said in his heart - The phrase, “he hath said,” means that this was his deliberate and settled character. What…
David, in these verses, discovers,
I. A very great affection to God and his favour; for, in the time of trouble, that…
Cross References
Related passages throughout Scripture