Just As He Promised

March 3, 2018

"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.' 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." Hebrews 12:26-27

These verses come on the tails of the chapter in the Bible that is known as "the hall of faith" where the writer reminds us about men and women who have gone before us who were characterized by a faith that shaped their lives. They left homelands, bore children they never dared hope to bear, were tested, crossed through a sea that had been parted, were hidden away from people who ordered them dead, knocked down walls, hid spies, and faced brutal deaths all because their eyes were on God and their hope was set on an eternity that was in His hands. The writer tells us that there is neither time nor room to go over the faithful witnesses who have graced this earth. 

Still, things have been recorded and the reminder stands. Faith is granted for specific purposes. It is intended to make us brave and bold and strong. It's not something we can muster on our own. By faith we will do things we would never otherwise dare to do. What sets faith apart is that we don't do what we do because we think it will make us happier or more successful or more respected. By faith, we obey God. By faith, the fear of man and of death disappear. By faith, we keep hoping in God knowing and believing that He'll sustain us and the faith that is driving us forward.

This is all familiar. This is what it means to be a Christian. It's easy to remember Moses and Daniel and Abraham and Sarah and Rahab. It's easy to think of the faithful grandparents and neighbors and teachers that we've known personally. The ones who consider Him faithful and able to do as He promised. What's not so easy is to reach a point where we wonder what we're supposed to do next. What's not so easy is stepping out without hope of reward or security or of everything working out. There are entire seasons of life where the ones we have looked to for direction let us down. We're left to wonder what faith would have us do. We want to do what is smart, but we also want to do what is right. 

And so...We are forced to look to God. We may have been looking to Him all along, but in those moments when trust is broken and betrayal is constantly being shoved in our face, we learn what it is to look to Him alone. 

And so we look. And what we see is that He is shaking away what was never meant to remain. Just as He promised. 

It hurts to be lied to, to be told that what you thought was true actually isn't, to be told that what you've given of yourself was nice and all but that it's actually built a case against you. It hurts to have the ones you love be pitted against you. It's difficult to look to the years ahead and not have a single idea as to what you're supposed to do with them. It feels like being unfaithful to God and to the life you committed to Him when you're given no choice but to start over with a whole new set of rules and motivations. God doesn't mean for people to hurt one another or to lie to one another or to let selfishness turn them against one another. He doesn't mean for women and children to be trampled on by the men who have taken interest in them. He doesn't mean for churches to bully and cast out the ones who have found themselves sitting in the pews asking for help.

What He does mean to happen is for us to seek the city that is to come. He's taught us about that city that He is preparing and made a way for us to get there and He's making us fit to spend eternity there. We would wander away from faith and cling to the very things that God Himself is shaking away.

When things hurt, that's God shaking away what is meant to be shaken. The shaking will continue until what was never meant to remain is destroyed. It will be hard. We'll get angry. We'll get so sad that we'll cry ourselves to sleep. We'll be confused and we'll wonder why it has to be so difficult. We'll think He's finally done and then the shaking will start all over again, loosening our grip on the next thing that we've got to stop clinging to. 

He doesn't mean for us to do it on our own or to be so strong that we don't need anyone else. He doesn't mean for us not to trust or love or care anymore. It will seem like that's best and that it's the only way forward and the only way out. In those moments, what He's doing is showing us that He is our strength. That He is the only way through and that we will get through. 

A day is coming when all the shaking will be over. In that day, all that will remain is what can never be shaken. In that day, we'll look to Him and we'll see that everything went just as He promised. 

That city and Christ and the struggles and the faith granted to us and the witness of those who have gone before us and the opposition of those who hate us because of who we are in Him...They are all reminding us of one thing, namely, that we are His and that we will remain in Him. Just as He promised.

He remains. And we will too.