For the One Who Feels Shaken
Photo by Orfeas Green via Unsplash
Anyone else feeling worn today? These have been years of uncertainty and unrest. Sometimes I’m feeling so many things I can’t even name the feelings.
Right now, take a moment to notice your emotions while you read. Emerging research shows that the more precisely you can label an emotion, the easier it is to accept it and know how to handle them. This can help us become more compassionate, balanced people. Not in burying or powering through our emotions, but by naming them and feeling them fully, knowing they are temporary, and moving through to their end. I find it helpful to visualize riding a wave. (See the work of Dr. Susan David for more.)
When I look around at everything that just isn’t right, I think of all the times I’ve heard people say “it’s supposed to keep getting worse and worse until the end.” But when I look at times of turmoil throughout the history of all nations, I see that even this is like riding a wave. Catastrophic events happen—natural disasters, epidemics, wars—and after that or intermixed in between, people prosper.
I read Hebrews chapters 10-12, and I have hope. In Christ, we receive a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Everything that can be removed will be shaken away, and what’s left is what was established by God from the very beginning. And if we are in Him, we will be part of what’s left, too.
Even now, we look around at all that’s wrong in the world, and through it we can see the glimmers of what is right and pure and solid, as if poured through a sifter. Do you see the glimpses of God’s kingdom, that which cannot be shaken?
Some things to think about as you read the Scripture passage:
What sensations am I feeling in my body? Where am I feeling it?
What emotions are arising to the surface?
Do I know the context of this passage? What is it?
How is this relevant right now?
What does this show me about God?
‘Who is left among you who saw this house in its former glory? How do you see it now? Is it not as nothing in your eyes? 4 Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the Lord. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the Lord. Work, for I am with you, declares the Lord of hosts, 5 according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not. 6 For thus says the Lord of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land. 7 And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the Lord of hosts. 8 The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the Lord of hosts. 9 The latter glory of this house shall be greater than the former, says the Lord of hosts. And in this place I will give peace, declares the Lord of hosts.’ ”
Haggai 2:3-9
See that you do not refuse him who is speaking. For if they did not escape when they refused him who warned them on earth, much less will we escape if we reject him who warns from heaven. 26 At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” 27 This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. 28 Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, 29 for our God is a consuming fire.
Hebrews 12:25-29
I’ve made a Combative Praise playlist, which I’ve linked here if you want to listen. I add new music regularly. It’s free in the Spotify app:
