SHAKEN, NOT STIRRED!

“That the things which cannot be shaken may remain” (Hebrews 12:27, NKJV).

There is a certain surreal quality to what is happening as I write this. Our nation is deeply divided over the recent Presidential election. The world’s economy appears to be falling apart and technology lets us see the meltdown in real time. Terrorists continue to thumb their noses at the U.S, Israel and the rest of the civilized world. Remnants of the old Soviet Empire are again rattling their swords. Natural disasters continue to occur worldwide…we even had a small earthquake in Dallas. And now, just when you think, “What else could possibly happen?” we have pirates! Yes, I said pirates, plundering ships on the high seas. Are we living in a cartoon world or what?

Chaos is also striking the church world. A few weeks ago we were all shocked to hear that a very well-known Christian recording artist had come out of the closet and announced that he was gay and was leaving his wife and family. And then another well-known worship and recording artist left his wife and ran off with one of the women in his travelling group. A few days ago it was announced that several mega-churches were either on the verge of bankruptcy or being forced to close their doors because of financial insolvency. Government continues to look at the financial sleight of hand of several televangelists. In the last few years, over 20 million evangelicals have abandoned the traditional church. In one city here in Texas, at least one “Christian” church is closing its doors every week. Nationally, more and more pastors are leaving the ministry for good!

“That which can be shaken is being shaken.”

I’m kind of slow at times but when the Lord awakens me at midnight and my first conscious thought is a Scripture, I know I had better pay attention. So it was a few nights ago, and I awakened to Hebrews 10:39.

The writer to the Hebrews (I think it was Paul but since that is a controversial subject and you know how I try to avoid controversy, forget that I said Paul was the author, okay?) takes quite a bit of time in chapter 10:19-39 to exhort the Jewish believers to remain steadfast no matter what circumstances they are facing.
Some of the highlights of this wonderful teaching passage for believers in “tough times” are:

• Let’s be bold in our prayers (10:19-22). We cannot let persecution or stress cause us to become timid or sissy (that’s not Greek) pray-ers!

• We are to hold tight to our confession of faith because God is faithful and will show Himself faithful to His people that stay strong in adversity (v. 23).

• Stay close to your brothers and sisters in the Lord; stay in church; stay in fellowship! This is more vital than ever as the end of the age approaches and it is one of the keys to “tough times” survival (v. 25).

• Verses 26 -36 give a strong exhortation about living by faith and not by sight. Our confidence must be in the eternal qualities of God’s work and not on what we can see with our physical eyes. Living by sight means we have our attention fixed on the temporal; living by faith means we have our spiritual eyes on the eternal truths of God and His kingdom, on the things that cannot be shaken!

In verse 39, as the writer gets ready to launch into the next chapter and his classic teaching on faith, he makes this unusual statement:
“We are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who believe and are saved.” (NIV)

In the King James Version this reads “turn back to perdition” and immediately visions of going to hell leap into our mind. That is not what the writer is attempting to emphasize here. The writer is saying, “We are not the kind that back away from difficulties and return to the destructive patterns of the carnal life, the life that we knew before we embraced Christ as Savior. It doesn’t matter what the circumstances of our life are, what the problems and pain are that we are confronted with…it doesn’t matter! We will not turn back but we will continue to believe, we will stand fast in our faith, and we will see the salvation of the Lord!”

I have been saying in my blog for months that I believed we were going to enter into a time of “stormy weather.” I still believe that! I didn’t know that it was going to come this fast but here it is and while there will be brief periods of rest, the storm will not be over for a long time.

Is God behind the shaking? Certainly He is allowing it and in some cases He is doing the shaking! (See Hebrews 12:26.)

During stormy weather everything that is not tied down and secured gets blown away, so don’t be surprised when that happens. Whole ministries will just disappear like what just happened to the over-hyped "Lakeland revival"! When stress and pressure come, they force impurities to the surface. Issues that have been ignored (sometimes because people are unwilling to face them) will be dealt with and don’t be surprised when that happens, either! (Remember Ted Haggard.)

We are of those who stand fast in faith and will see the salvation of the Lord!