GOD IS UNSHAKEABLE

"Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire." [Hebrew 12:28-29]

One thing I have learned in life, especially in recent weeks is we cannot control what tomorrow brings...

Our health and wellbeing can change, a phone call can change our week, someone we trusted can disappoint us, our finances can change and as a result, our carefully constructed plans can fall apart and life can feel precarious and our world as we know it is shakeable.

If our peace depends on keeping everything around us stable, we will spend our lives afraid of what might happen next. Being unshakable does not mean becoming so strong that nothing ever affects us, it means our lives have become anchored to something our circumstances cannot move.

Hebrews says, “Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken.” (Hebrews 12:28)

Notice what cannot be shaken. It does not say our circumstances cannot be shaken, it does not promise that every relationship, job, plan, or season will remain exactly the same; it says we have received a kingdom that cannot be shaken. Our security is not found in making our world impossible to disturb, our security is found in belonging to a King whose Kingdom cannot be moved.

This is why the finished work of Jesus matters when life becomes unstable. Scripture says that Jesus “entered once for all into the holy places” and secured “an eternal redemption.” (Hebrews 9:12)

Jesus is not repeatedly trying to save us every time we have a difficult week, our standing with God does not disappear when our emotions become unstable; what Jesus accomplished is greater than what we are experiencing. Our circumstances can change without our position in Christ changing.

The Apostle Paul understood this kind of security. He experienced rejection, imprisonment, suffering, uncertainty, and loss and yet he wrote: “Your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3: 3).

That is where our life is, hidden with Christ. This does not mean painful things will stop hurting, it means pain does not have access to the deepest truth about us. Someone can reject us without removing us from Christ, a financial struggle can frighten us without separating us from Christ; our bodies can become weak or damaged without changing our place in Christ, our lives are held somewhere circumstances cannot reach.

This is also why resting in Jesus is different from becoming passive. Rest does not mean we stop working, planning, praying, serving, or making wise decisions; it means we stop doing those things as though everything depends upon us. When we quieten our hearts in our times with God and go to Him for relief and safety, this is when we become unshakable.

Jesus said, “Abide in me, and I in you.” (John 15:4). At that time, Jesus was preparing His disciples for life without His physical presence among them. Their fruitfulness would not come from desperately trying to reproduce His life through human effort, it would come from remaining connected to Him.

We hear those words now from the other side of the cross and resurrection. Jesus completed the work required to bring us into a relationship with God. We are not abiding so Jesus will finally accept us, we abide because we already belong to Him, we pray from acceptance, we serve from acceptance, we obey from acceptance and we face uncertainty from acceptance. The finished work means we begin every day from what Jesus has already accomplished, rather than trying to earn what He has already given.

So when life shakes, we do not have to pretend we are unaffected. Cry if it hurts, ask for help when we need it and tell Jesus when we are afraid. Face what is actually happening instead of pretending faith means denying reality. But while we are doing all of that, keep reminding our hearts of what cannot change. Jesus has already dealt with our sin, we have already been brought near, we already belong to the Father and our identity is already in Christ. Nothing happening today can go backward in history and undo the cross.

That is how we become unshakable, not by becoming emotionally invincible, not by controlling everything around us, not by developing enough faith to guarantee that nothing painful ever happens. We become unshakable by resting our entire lives on the One who cannot be shaken.

So when everything around us moves, Jesus remains.

When we do not understand what is happening, Jesus remains.

When we feel like we have nothing left, Jesus remains.

Our peace is not that nothing will ever shake around us, our peace is that what Jesus finished for us can never be shaken.

How truly comforting is that!

God bless