Shaken Things

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
Hebrews 12 (click the link)


FOCAL PASSAGE:
And His voice shook the earth then, but now He has promised, saying, “YET ONCE MORE I WILL SHAKE NOT ONLY THE EARTH, BUT ALSO THE HEAVEN.” This expression, “Yet once more,” denotes the removing of those things which can be shaken, as of created things, so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Hebrews 12:26-27, NASB)


THE BIG IDEA:
In verse 26, the writer of Hebrews quotes the prophet Haggai saying “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth, but also the heaven.”  Why?  What is meant by “shaking”?  Huh?  Well, when something is shaken, it goes from a state of calmness and stability to a state of agitation. Depending on how violent the shaking, this can result in things flying off in all directions.  When you shake a tree, apples fall off (unless of course it’s a pear tree, then pears would fall off, but you get the idea).  Here, the writer is saying that God is going to shake things up. Why? SO THAT THOSE THINGS WHICH CANNOT BE SHAKEN MAY REMAIN.


REFLECTIONS:
I think that, from time to time, God “shakes things up” in all of our lives. This is typically NOT a positive experience.  How do you think the apple tree feels about being shaken?  I’m sure it was quite happy, quietly putting out leaves and growing apples, just like it’s supposed to.  Then someone comes along and upsets this tranquility and sends its fruit flying off to the ground.  With us, it is much the same; we are going through life, doing what we think we are supposed to be doing, making “fruit,” then God shakes everything up.  Why? Because God wants to remove those things in our life that He never intended to be there.

The good news here is the REASON he does this—so that those things which cannot be shaken may remain.  We all produce fruit of some kind; God wants us to produce that fruit which cannot be shaken, the Fruit of the Spirit!  According to Galatians 5:22-23, this is: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Praise be to God that he will shake out of our lives anything (or even better, EVERYTHING) that would hinder the growth and maturity of HIS fruit.


POINT OF ACTION:
Do we want to live with the fruit of our own abilities, desires, and actions? Or do we want those all shaken out of our lives so that “those things which cannot be shaken may remain”?  According to this passage, we can’t have both. Which do you want?  That shaking will be hard to bear; it will be uncomfortable and probably even painful. But the result is, we will be left with what God wants us to have—fruit that is unshakeable.

Are you going through a difficult time of shaking? Look to see what God is trying to remove from your life and be assured that He is trying to replace it with something that is unshakeable. 

And here’s the kicker, does this mean that we will never be shaken again? That our lives will be smooth sailing from that point forward?  No, it simply means that when we are shaken we will make it through unscathed, because that which remains is unshakeable.


PRAYER:
Lord, I need a good shaking, I give you permission to shake-away!!  I trust you to remove the fruit of my own making, and to leave me with the fruit of your Spirit; fruit that will remain unshakeable for all eternity.


WHO AM I?
I’m Alan Wassel. I sell medical equipment for a living, do custom woodworking as a hobby, and run the sound-board at Church on many Sundays.  I’m married to the greatest wife in the world, Jennifer.  We have three kids, two of whom are “all grown up” and live in Boulder and Austin.  Our youngest, Tracy, lives at home with us.  We also have a dog, and 4 cats (they all live at home too).