There is a noteworthy scriptural concept related to movement, which involves no movement at all. It is the exact opposite of movement. Where one has no spiritual movement, one is still, or in other scriptural synonyms, set, fixed, unwavering, firm, steadfast, and immovable. The last three words appear often together and have become to me the triad of spiritual steadiness.
Lehi understood the power of steadiness and wanted it for his disobedient spiritually wavering son Lemuel. He expressed his desire in these words: “O that thou mightest be like unto this valley, firm and steadfast, and immovable in keeping the commandments of the Lord!” (See 1 Ne. 2:10)[1]. Lehi was apparently moved by the silent and steady power of the Valley of Lemuel, and saw it as a fitting spiritual analogy for his spiritually wavering son.
When my wife and I were first married, we went on the famous Table Rock hike in the Grand Teton mountain range. A deep feeling of reverence and awe overtook Melissa as she looked out upon the vast valley below to the west, and the majestic and powerful Grand Teton to the east. I haven’t seen that expression in the 10+ years since. The still, steady, and grand power of the scene caused a deep internal movement within. It is almost ironic that we find the unwavering steadiness of nature to be so internally moving.
Nature also provides powerful illustrations that are anything but steadfast and immovable. James counseled that when we ask anything of the Lord, that we “ask in faith, nothing wavering.For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed”(See James 1: 5-6 ). The sea represents another form of power, manifest in its sheer vastness like Lehi’s valley of Lemuel, but its power is also expressed in its unpredictable and sometimes violent and uncontrolled movements. Such movements may be power, but it is not spiritual strength, and is not fitting as an illustration of faith.
When the Lord told Joseph Smith of the impending American Civil War, among other things he counseled Joseph to stand in holy places “and be not moved” (see D&C 87:8, emphasis added). The Hebrew word for this type of movement is môwt, and means to waver, slip, shake, or fall (NSEEC #4131 – pg 149). This could be the same word used by Hebrew speaking Nephi, who said “I know that the words of truth are hard against all uncleanness; but the righteous fear them not, for they love the truth and are not shaken”(see 2 Ne. 9:40). Another Book of Mormon prophet, Jacob, described this type of moving condition. After being approached by the antichrist, Sherem, he said, “And he had hope to shake me from the faith, notwithstanding the many revelations and the many things which I had seen concerning these things; for I truly had seen angels, and they had ministered unto me. And also, I had heard the voice of the Lord speaking unto me in very word, from time to time; wherefore, I could not be shaken.”[2]Jacob’s spiritual position was firm, steadfast, and immovable. This power of unwavering steadiness was exemplified by the Lord as he spiritually moved from grace to grace.