There is a Whole Lot of Shaking Going On!

(also found as a Note on my Facebook page)
I am in a situation where everything around me and in me is being shaken to the core! It feels like one of those kinds of earthquakes that really jerks you around, not the soft rolling type of earthquake. (non-California people will have to trust me on this) It’s also like a hurricane and the wind is blowing away everything that is not tied down. Have you ever been body surfing, had a wave throw you into the sand and you had no idea which way was up? If so, then you get it!
Today I was at a prayer meeting and was reminded how God says He is going to shake and remove all those things that are being shaken so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. (Heb 12:26 & 27) I don’t think I’m the only one going through a time of shaking!
It’s a time to consider asking ourselves in what are we trusting. Are we trusting in our jobs, our savings, ourselves, our intelligence, our strength, our pastors, our government? What about our faith, our world view and our belief systems? All these things are shakable. I do not feel we are safe to trust in anything EXCEPT the Lord Jesus Himself. The whole purpose of times of shaking is so that we focus on Him, pursue intimacy with Him. He is our strong tower, we run to Him and we are safe. (Prov 18:10) He is the eye of the hurricane where there is perfect peace. He is the solid rock on which we stand, every other ground is sinking sand, as the song goes. ("My Hope is Built on Nothing Less" by Edward Mote, 1797-1874) It’s His kingdom which cannot be shaken: the intangible things like faith, love, joy, peace, faithfulness. Matt 6:19-21 says, "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." We have to reevaluate where we are laying up our treasures, where are we investing our money, our time, our energy.
Hebrews 12 goes on to say that our God is a consuming fire. He wants to "burn" up the chaff, the sin, the bad attitudes, etc. in us. It may sound harsh to some, but I welcome it because as I go through the fire-storm-shaking I come out on the other side more like Him. I gain those characteristics in my life that are intangible, yet eternal. I give myself fully to the One who knows my heart is “desperately wicked”. (Jeremiah 17:9) He is always good. His love for each one of us is unconditional and perfectly patient, kind, gentle, forgiving. I can fully trust His ways.
The Lord Jesus has really been speaking to me about trusting in man as mentioned above and I just happen to be reading Jeremiah right now. Jer 17: 5-8 says, “Thus says the Lord: ‘Cursed is the man who trusts in man and makes flesh his strength, whose heart departs from the Lord. For he shall be like a shrub in the desert, and shall not see when good comes, but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land which is not inhabited.
"Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit.”
I want to be blessed! I want you to be blessed too!!