Reflections on Psalm 15 and Digital Resistance

Many things shake us in life. Unexpected trials, broken relationships, and financial struggles, as well as geopolitical uncertainties and social trends, test the strength of our resolve. Personally, even reading the latest news about government regulations on digital assets tends to alarm me. I wonder to what extent government overreach can influence a decentralized network like Hive.

Reading Psalm 15, I am reminded that on my own, I am fragile, with numerous fears and anxieties. I admire the kind of people described in the text as unshakable:

Whoever does these things will never be shaken (Psalm 15:5b).

The kind of people described as unshakable are those who dwell in God's sanctuary. Since nothing in existence can shake God, those who live in his house share the same stable quality. This tells us that the farther we run away from him, the shakier our life will be. On the other hand, the nearer we draw to him, the more we reflect his unshakable character.

Holy people are unshakable. The problem in our time is that the idea of holiness is the farthest from our minds. And then we wonder why so many people in our time are too weak to sustain even a very basic commitment required in education, employment, and intimate relationships.

Some appear strong from the outside, but the strength of the "storm" and "wildfire" that will come into your life will expose whether the strength is genuine or not. If God is the foundation of your life, not even the most heartbreaking, soul-shaking, and seemingly world-ending trials could destroy you. As long as your strength comes as a gift from above, you will remain unshakable.

Holiness in Psalm 15 is described in practical terms in the way a man walks and talks, in his affection and determination, as well as in financial transactions. Usury and bribery are selected as representative examples of fraudulent financial deals, perhaps because they were considered notorious during the time of the psalmist. In our time, the unshakable would be described as someone not involved in money laundering, embezzlement, scams, and other Ponzi schemes.

This is why I think that despite the appearance that states and giant financial institutions are strong and seemingly unshakable, as long as they perpetuate a system that practices lawful stealing, these institutions, from my perspective, are in reality built on a house of cards. Anytime, they will stumble and fall.

Blockchain networks like Hive can be viewed as threats by these extractive institutions. They could paint decentralized networks as a platform for misinformation and tax evasion and as a tool for capital flight. Since they could not control the network from the inside because of technical difficulties, they could target developers with legal cases and pressure exchanges to delist the tokens they could not control.

Grace and peace!

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