Do you feel it? Does it seem like everything is shaking around you?

People are literally being shaken by earthquakes and natural disasters on a scall we have never seen in our lifetime. Nations are shaking. Ukraine has been absolutely rocked and Taiwan is getting a shakedown in the threat of takeover by China. Economies of the world are shaking. Some countries have seen their currency shrink to nothing, America could be on the verge of total economic collapse, and China, meanwhile, is becoming the financial market of the world.

Values are being shaken as well. What was so obvious a generation ago is so ambiguous today. The world wants us to believe men can become women, it is okay to murder unborn children, drag queens are a normal part of society, there is no value in family units, and truth is relative.

Surely God does not smile at the atrocities of today. In fact, there are many references in Scripture in which God shakes the earth. (Examples: Psalm 18:7, Isaiah 2:19-21, Isaiah 13:13, Isaiah 24:17-19) Those are all past tense occasions, but the Bible warns of future shaking of heaven, as well as earth. (Isaiah 13:11-13, Haggai 6:7-8, 21, Mark 13:24-25) Why would the Lord do that? To wake us up!

If you are not currently shaken to your core by things in your personal life or in civic life, you will be! It is coming. If our dependence is on electing the right people, forget it! The world’s problems are greater than any politician will ever unwind. (Though it IS important to engage civically if we have any hope of influencing our cities, states and nation. We just should not place our hope and faith there.) If our dependence is upon money, forget it! In the course of a day, America’s wealth (collectively and individually) may completely disappear.

Indeed, the world is shaking, and every sign points to more, not less. We have two choices: put our hope in worldly resources and people, or put our hope in Jesus Christ. Some will say, “Well, I’m already a Christian, so none of this applies to me.” O, but it does! The purpose of the Christian life is to grow into the likeness of Jesus, our Lord and King. He is the Prince of Peace and if we want to live in peace, our lives must reflect His! When we are missing one iota of peace, or are experiencing one degree of anxiety, it is our opportunity to lean into Jesus! Cast our burdens upon Him, then live for Him!

Only then will we be free from the shaking in our world today!

2 Now, brethren, concerning the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and our gathering together to Him, we ask you, ² not to be soon shaken in mind or troubled, either by spirit or by word or by letter, as if from us, as though the day of Christ had come.

~2 Thessalonians 2:1-2