We say terra firma about the ground beneath our feet, but it is not always firm. The Center for Earthquake Research and Information says the earth undergoes about eight major quakes a year, plus 120 large ones, one thousand moderate, six thousand minor, forty-nine thousand that are felt, 300,000 that are perceptible but barely, and adds twice that many that no one notices.
When we lived in Alaska, we experienced a small earthquake that shook one bed enough to bang the headboard against the wall and wake us up. It was over before we realized what it was, and no harm was done. Then last summer construction in our area occasionally shook the house, again harmless, but disconcerting. It felt like another earthquake.
Earthquakes happened several times in the Bible, and were often used by God as judgment for sin. However, the term ‘shaken’ is also used to describe His work of detaching His people from anything that keeps us from wholeheartedly following Him. When He does it, it is usually through events we don’t expect, like earthquakes and other calamities. I don’t know what is going on at first, but even when I figure out that God is at work, it’s not much fun to be pried away from something I care about. Sometimes I feel as if He actually picks me up and gives me a shake.
This morning my neighbor called. I just got home from taking Bob to the airport and getting a few groceries. This neighbor planned to take me to the airport tomorrow, take care of my mail and houseplants while we are gone, and be here for our granddaughter who will be house-sitting for the first time. She also just started a new job and soon begins a heavy next semester of university. The neighbor was sorry to say that her mother is ill and she must leave early in the morning. Shake, shake.
My first thought was, “I’m being tested again.” As I sat down for devotions, the reading for today is about God shaking people loose from the things of this life! He wants His people to know that He alone is enough!
I’d been anxious about this trip and last week realized that I was worried about the house. I tried to give it to the Lord as I’d once given my garden to Him during a summer of hailstorms. As I confessed my silly fears, they disappeared, but this morning’s news put me on the hot seat once again. Am I really going to trust God with this? Shake, shake.
Hebrews 12:27 talks about “the removal of those things that are being shaken, as of things that are made, that the things which cannot be shaken may remain.” He works to separate that which is temporary from that which is eternal. Corrie Ten Boom said, “I’ve learned not to hold to anything too tightly because it hurts when God pries my fingers loose.”
Verse 28 says, “Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us have grace, by which we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear.”
The kingdom of God is immovable. Earthquakes, life’s storms, no matter what dashes it, that gift from Him is eternal and indestructible. No matter what happens to me or mine, I’ve a sure and positive hope based on the promises of a God who cannot lie and will not renege.
I did a bit of digging and found this in Psalm 16:8: “I have set the Lord always before me; because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”
Worst case scenarios cannot flash through my head when I set the Lord before me. I can fly out of here tomorrow in peace knowing that He is at my right hand. What practical truth for such ordinary concerns! The God who made the universe and holds it together is quite capable of taking care of the home front, and even if He shakes it up, He still offers these verses to help me. He knows what I need, and what I don’t need, to serve Him with all my heart.
Psalm 62:7 says, “My salvation and my honor depend on God; He is my mighty rock, my refuge,” and I say that God is enough.
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