Hey God, what's shakin'?

(This story is not about me... Links to the author are at the bottom of the post.)


"His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.' This phrase, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain." - Hebrews 12:26-27


Situation Explained
When is the last time you felt the physical power of God?


Solution Offered
It was about ten after seven on a beautiful Sunday morning.
My wife had just gotten up. I was a little more "slow moving" (a nice way of saying that if I could have laid in bed for another three days, I would have).

The sun had just begun breaking through the windows of our hotel room. Out our window you could see the early morning light outlining the palm trees and mountains and illuminating the beautiful Pacific ocean. We were in the Hawaiian islands, invited there to do ministry. We took advantage of the invitation to get away for a second honeymoon.

As the light bid my eyes to open, I fought to keep them closed. It was at that point that I heard a strange sound, unlike any I was accustomed to hearing. Then the walls of the hotel began to shake. Pictures and furniture fell and moved. The power went out. My wife screamed. My lazy tail was bounced out of bed onto the floor.

I ran to my wife and covered her as we knelt in a doorway and began praying.

The earth and hotel weren't the only things shaking.we were shaking, too.
Our "getaway" to paradise was interrupted with a Sunday morning wake-up call that registered 6.5 on the Richter scale, including 18 aftershocks to insure we weren't "snoozing". Luckily, we were not hurt and there were no reported casualties.

Now, while I didn't do the math to see what the odds were that on our four-day getaway we would be lucky enough to experience the first earthquake to hit Hawaii in over two decades.I did stop to think that there was something about God to be learned from every experience, even this one.

Looking back, I have to say that the earthquake was a tremendous spiritual gift for me.

It reminded me, once again, just how big God is and how absolutely small I am.

It demonstrated how dependant we are on electricity and technology, overly dependant, actually.

It showed, beyond the shadow of a doubt, just how helpless we are when it's us against Mother Nature - nature is still more powerful.

It reaffirmed how much I love my wife more than myself. Honestly, I really didn't care if I died; it never even entered my mind.her safety and her life were all I could think about.


But the greatest gift it gave me was appreciation for God.

We have a God Who is powerful enough to make the earth shake yet gentle enough to create a newborn baby.

We have a God Who is loving enough to give us free will, yet merciful enough to forgive our selfishness.

We have a God Who is strong enough to level the world in an instant yet Who, instead, let Himself be tortured and destroyed to cover our debt of sins.

And we have a God who, in every instant - the scary and the calm, the loud and the quiet, the normal and the extraordinary - who loves us enough to shake us (sometimes, literally) out of our spiritual slumber, remind us of His ultimate power, and invite us to trust in Him more completely.

This verse today reminds me of how many things I put my faith in besides God, and how all of those worldly, created things are worthless and useless when all is said and done. God is the ultimate power. God is an awe-some, as in "we should be filled with AWE" but even more importantly, God is an awe-some lover, as in "The One Who loves us perfectly, and Who shows us how to love".

Look around your life right now. God might be shaking things up (probably not literally). Don't run from that social, emotional or spiritual earthquake. It's a gift from God to you. When He rocks your world, it's in an effort to shake away all those things that you cling to that are not grounded in God. When your life is free of any relationships or situations that is not focused on Him, then it will get quiet again.

What was I reminded of in that earthquake?
Sometimes He has to shake us to wake us.



Salvation Given
"His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, 'Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.' This phrase, 'Yet once more,' indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain." - Hebrews 12:26-27


Until you put your trust completely in God. hold on tight.


The above is a product of the "Bible Geek" from www.lifeteen.com