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Serving an Unshakable God

“See to it that you do not refuse him who speaks. If they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, how much less will we, if we turn away from him who warns us from heaven. At that time, his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised once more, I will shake not only the earth, but also the heavens.” (Hebrews 12:25-26)

It's not bad news that we serve an unshakable God who shakes things up. It's really, really good news for those who have built their lives not around the temporary shakable things, but around the eternal unshakable things. And those who have invested their value in eternal, unshakable things hear this differently than people who have invested their lives in temporary, shakable things.

The words indicate the removing of what can be shaken (that is, created things) so that what cannot be shaken may remain. This is a quote from Haggai chapter 2, verses 6 to 9, and Haggai says this, “This is what the Lord Almighty say.” “The silver is mine. The gold is mine, declares the Lord Almighty. The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house, says the Lord Almighty. And in this place, I will grant peace.” Guess who declares this? The same Lord Almighty.  That is the unshakable God who shakes things up.

There's an old story that you've probably heard from some preacher somewhere of a faithful old lady who lived in a village that was being rocked by a series of earthquakes. She was surprisingly calm and joyous as everybody else continued to kind of ratchet up the panic. Finally, one of the other villagers said to her, “Are you not afraid? Are you in shock? How can you be so calm?”

She responded with a smile on her face. “No, I rejoice to know that I have a God who can shake the world.”

That is a very, very different perspective between those who trust in this unshakable God who shakes things up and those who don't. Those who have invested their life in the temporary and the shakable and those who have invested their life in the eternal and the unshakable. When we've got a proper fear of God, we don't need to fear anything else.

Lord, I thank you that your promises are sure. And I just ask, Lord, that you would give me and us the strength to lean on your word and to your promises, to lean into the reality of what an awesome God you are. And Lord, we don't take you for granted. We don't take you casually, Lord. Help us to recognize what an awesome, fearsome thing it is to be in the presence of the almighty living God. Help us, Lord, to worship you with reverence and awe and to not get drawn into a casual observance of the truths about you. We desire to walk with you. We desire to be your friend like you said Abraham was. And we ask, Lord, that we would find ourselves so deeply grounded in you and so deeply hopeful in your kingdom.

That the shaking all around us doesn't shake us on the inside. We pray it in Jesus' name and for his sake. Amen.

-- Dr. Scott Sherwood serves as President of Nazarene Bible College.