Shaking Away

 

 

“He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” …” Revelation 21:5(a)

“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. The words “one more” indicate the removing of what can be shaken- that is, created things-so that what cannot be shaken may remain.” Hebrews 12:26-27

We are having a new roof installed as I write this. All my senses are stretched by the sounds of the booms, crashes, pounds, creaks, crunches thundering overhead. Sometimes it feels as if the whole house is shaking under the weight of this new construction taking place and I can literally feel from the inside the violent yanking away of the old covering to make room for the new.

As I sit here with my senses stretched to the hilt, I am struck with a sudden awareness of my own shaking that has been occurring “under the roof” of my soul.
It’s funny how God often uses our outside forces to point to what He is allowing to happen inside of us.

I have been enduring a shaking lately. On top of that, there is a guilt over not having any recognizable reason to be shaking. I know what shaking is. I have spent most of my life learning to live, move, and breath with the earth shaking and rumbling beneath my feet. For some season, some of us seem to be born radiating seismic waves. We long for steady ground, however, feel most at home within the shaking. Early on, the earthquakes became my lullaby and the hurricanes, my covering. I get nervous when the ground become still beneath my feet. My senses are not trained for peace.

Which brings me back to this morning, and how all these crashes and booms are bringing me back to an awareness of what Jesus is doing in me right now. There comes a time when Jesus shakes us once and for all. It is difficult for those of us who are accustomed to shaking to suddenly become steady on still ground. It’s almost as if we want to make that ground shake in order to make it home. But we cannot.

Peace doesn’t shake.

It stands while all the earth is shaking.

Like an aged Oak Tree that bends and sways with the storms, and with it’s waves, there is even a grace to how it moves through the constant shifting that knocks the rest of us off our feet. And yet, when it’s all over, we look to that Oak, still standing, looking even brighter, cleaner, and more majestic than ever.

That Oak stands through the shaking. It does not succumb to it.

That is peace.

At some point Jesus turns to each one of us and says, “time to make all things new!”
And what we thought was going to be soft wisp of sudden delight instead becomes a strong storm of terror beneath our feet.
And the Jesus we thought was a gentle, soft, lover of children and lambs suddenly becomes our raging, strong, powerful Prince of Peace.  Jesus, alone, holds the recipe for each of our shaking.  “He reveals deep and hidden things; he knows what lies in darkness, and the light dwells in him.” Daniel 2:22.

The shaking comes so the covering can come.

And suddenly. Before our very eyes we will look and, “Behold, He has made all things new, even me!”

Shaking comes.

We all feel it, it terrifies us all.

Yet, often what we perceive as a yanking away of all that is familiar is actually preparing for us the covering that makes all brand new.

Are you going through a shaking?

Perhaps, like my roof, Jesus, may be ripping off the old covering to make room for the new.