A Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On

Happy Sunday. In 1957, Jerry Lee Lewis released a song called "Whole Lot of Shaking Going On." About a decade and a half later, in 1971, Carol King released "I Feel the Earth Move Under My Feet." Both of those songs seem timely in our world today. There's a whole lot of shaking going on.

Our world seems unstable, and it's hard to know where to begin with the problems of today. The events unfolding in Afghanistan are heartbreaking and an indication of an unstable world. The country of Haiti has once again been literally shaken by an earthquake. The death toll is around 2000 and rising.

98 people died in Surfside, Florida, a couple of months ago in the Champlain Tower South when the 12-story building collapsed. There's a whole lot of shaking going on. I haven't even mentioned covet yet. In our world there is tribulation.

My world was rocked recently when I had to travel to Mississippi for the funeral of a dear friend. He was my age, devoted to Christ. He was a missionary. I spoke with a friend recently whose world is shaking because his daughter moved away to college.

Life can be hard. It's always something, and we all have our stories, don't we? This world shakes us all too often.

I was reading this week in the book of Hebrews, and I thought it important to share this verse with you. It's found in Hebrews 12:28, and it says, "Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and all." Isn't that a beautiful description? A kingdom that cannot be shaken.

Obviously we can connect to this, uh, world yet to come. Scripture teaches in Revelation 21 of a new heaven, a new earth, a place with no more death or mourning or crying or pain, a place with no shaking whatsoever. And the older I get, the more I look forward to heaven. Today I am thankful that my relationship with God can protect me even now in this shaking world.

I love stories of unshakable faith. One of them I recall is when my grandfather was dying, my grandmother was at his side singing the old hymn "I Shall Not Be Moved." That hymn was likely sung and invented, written by slaves in the Deep South and very difficult times. Their whole world was rocking and shaking, yet because many of them had strong faith, they sang. And I'll read you the chorus: "I shall not be, I shall not be moved. I shall not be, I shall not be moved. Just like a tree planted by the water, I shall not be moved."

That song was likely taken from scripture found in Psalms and/or Jeremiah. The first three verses of Psalm 1 tell us, "Happy are those who do not follow the advice of the wicked, or take the path that sinners tread, or sit in the seat of scoffers, but their delight is in the law of the Lord, and on his law they meditate day and night. They are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit and its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper."

Jeremiah 17, verses 7 and 8, is much the same. There we are told, "Blessed are those who trust in the Lord. They shall be like a tree planted by water, sending out its roots by the stream. It shall not fear when heat comes, and its leaves shall stay green, and the year of drought it is not anxious, and it does not cease to bear fruit."

As Christians, we can choose to have deep roots that are secure and do not shake in this world, or we can be like the rest of the world and panic and shake and worry when times are tough. The choice is ours. Every day we must trust Jesus. Every day we must focus on his kingdom and not on this present world.

God can give us a place of perfect peace and calm in this crazy world. While the world around us is frantic with doubt and despair, we can have hope and peace because our trust is in God and our focus is on God, because our God is unshakable.

I'll never forget my first meeting with my friend Ted. His wife of 58 years had just died. He was grieving, of course, yet there was a calm assurance that was most evident in his demeanor. He looked at me, and he quoted First Corinthians 2:9: "As it is written, eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and human heart has not imagined what God has prepared for those who love him." He was connected. His roots were deep in a shaky time.

While I was preparing this message, I received two phone calls. One was from a cousin who's been exposed to covid and is now in quarantine. The other was from a funeral home about helping a family with the service of a loved one. The world continues to shake.

Years ago, I had friends who had just built a new house. It was their dream home. They had just moved in. The day finally came when their yard was tilled and fertilized and planted. They spent a small fortune on landscaping.

That first night, after all of the planting, a horrible storm came. It rained and rained, and my friend Bob went to bed. His worried wife said, "How can you sleep?" Bob said, "God's going to stay up all night. I'll let him handle it."

That's a great attitude. Trust God and rest. Do not shake with this world. You are part, if you're a believer, you are part of God's unshakeable kingdom. I'll close with the words of David from Psalm 16:8, when he said, "I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved."

Let's pray. Lord God, this world is shaking. If we watch the news, we see things in Afghanistan, we see things in Haiti, we see things in this country that are disheartening, heartbreaking. And Father, we see a world that desperately needs you.

In each one's life that is watching this, there are different things that occur, some small, some big, but all of them important. And Lord, it is our prayer that we are part of the unshakeable kingdom, yes, in the days ahead in heaven, but even now as we connect to you. Father, I pray that you would give a great assurance to those that watch, that you would make their faith stronger every day, that in this shaking world we're members of an unshakable kingdom, and we shall not be moved. In the powerful name of Jesus we pray. Amen. God bless.