August 12

“Hebrews tells us that the things that are shaken are the ‘things that are made’.  This is true of the things that are manufactured by our own efforts, the feelings that we get up, doctrines that we elaborate, good works that we perform.  These are not bad things in themselves.  But when the soul begins to rest on them instead of upon the Lord, he is compelled to ‘shake’ us from them.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 8/12

There must be something about the idealism of youth that makes it perfectly natural, and therefore seemingly right, to “manufacture” the things we want in our lives.  How often do young couples make up qualities about the person they’re dating so that can marry them, only to find out later when the relationship begins to be shaken that they really should have waited for the real thing.  But perhaps the most catastrophic manufacturing that we do involves ourselves--we either think too highly of ourselves or not highly enough.  This is the shaking that can be the most painful yet the most healing for it is here that we find God.  It is here that we release the self-image we created and begin to see ourselves as God sees us.  We can then accept His love and begin sharing it.  But we mustn’t stop there.  We must also build the foundation of our newfound relationship on the rock of Jesus Christ Himself.  Then our new life in Christ can never be shaken and we will grow strong in the Lord.

“His voice then shook the earth; but now he has promised, ‘Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heaven.’  This phrase, ‘Yet once more,’ indicates the removal of what is shaken, as of what has been made, in order that what cannot be shaken may remain."  Hebrews 12:26, 27