Heart Tracks - The Unshakable Realm

"The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken - that is, created things - so that what cannot be shaken may remain." Hebrews 12:27

In my prayer journal, I have the questions, "What, in our lives, is truly unshakable? What, if every aspect of our lives were shaken to the core, would remain? What would still be standing? Would we still be standing?" These are valid questions, especially for those who say they have put their faith in Jesus Christ. Does the foundation of our life say that we are standing upon Him, or on that which isn't Him at all?

Stability is valued in our culture. Most of our life is spent trying to build that for ourselves. We are told that we need to plan for our futures. Wisely handling and investing our resources, making sure that we have a reserve, even a cushion upon which we can depend. We're also told to construct a strong support network, building relationships with others who can help us in various ways. The world calls this wisdom, and it is, so far as the world defines that word. But as the Word of God says, "the wisdom of God seems like foolishness to men."

I'm not saying that any of the above are wrong. God tells us to be wise stewards of our resources. He is also a God of healthy relationships. We need people in our lives. What He wants us to know, and live as a result of that knowledge, is that our investments, our relationships, the foundations and structures that we build, are not what we're to depend on. They are not to be, never to be, our source. He alone is our Source. He alone is to be our foundation. No matter how precise we might be in our planning, all of its fruit can disappear in a moment. The shakings of this world are real, and the people of God are not immune to them. As His Word says, they come upon the "just and the unjust." What happens if they should come, and they will come, upon you?

Martin Luther, a leader in what became known as the Protestant Reformation, was declared an outlaw by the religious authorities of his day. He found protection with a group of German princes. He was once asked where he would be if that protection was lost to him. He answered, "I will be where I have always been. In the hands of my God." This was not false bravado. Luther was no doubt grateful for the help of the princes, but he knew that their favor could be withdrawn, or broken. It could be gone in a moment. He did not look to the princes, He looked to His God. The princes could be removed. His God, His Lord Christ could never be. Luther lived in the "unshakable realm." That realm can only be known and experienced by those who commit themselves fully into His hands and His life. Everything around us can be shaken, can fall, can be taken away. He cannot. He is the Foundation, the Rock that can neither be moved or removed.

I, literally, have known and experienced what it is to lose everything. I confess that in that time, I knew fear, I knew anxiety, I knew the darkness. The beauty and the glory in it all was that I also knew Him. And in the darkness, in the shaking, I came to know Him even more. I found that my life in Him could not be shaken even when everything around me was being shaken to the ground. Destruction was everywhere around me. The Rock of His presence was within me. I had not lost Him. I could not lose Him. In the shaking, He remained. When they passed, He was still there. So it would be in the shaking to come. What I had, and what I have is not my source. He is my Source. My confidence in Him can be attacked, but He proves, again and again, He is a, my, sure Foundation. Do you know Him to be yours?

He calls each of His own to live in the unshakable realm. Can you dare to? Or, do you continue to try and build a life that can be shaken away in an instant? The shakable life, or the unshakable one. Which are you living now?

Blessings,
Pastor O