Our culture is obsessed with the idol of personal happiness.
Everywhere we look we see people desperately trying to find happiness and security while minimizing pain and suffering in their lives. People look for meaning and fulfillment in their careers, their families, their possessions, and other identities.
In the last fifteen months or so, we have seen all those things take a hit. It reminds me of Hebrews 12 which talks about “things that are shaken”.
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 ESV
We have experienced a great “shaking” in the past fifteen months. COVID-19 has shaken our daily lives and the economy. This economic shaking has also disrupted careers and financial stability for many. Social and political unrest have shaken our confidence in institutions and the processes and structures of our republic.
2020 demonstrated many things but one thread that tied it all together was this: the fragility of false hopes. We came to realize that the lives of happiness and security that we had built and sought to maintain were dangerously delicate.
We stopped taking for granted our health, our financial security, and even our ability to acquire groceries and toilet paper! As the year progressed and we faced political tension as a nation, we stopped taking for granted the political prosperity and peace that had so long characterized our nation.
We can honestly refer to 2020 as the “Year of Shaking”.
An Unshakable Kingdom
Hebrews 12 goes on in verses 28 and 29:
“Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.“
This passage draws the line connecting the shaking of earthly things with the blessed inheritance we have of an unshakable kingdom. In fact, the writer of Hebrews tells us that the removal of things that are shaken happens so that the unshaken things can remain.
To mix our metaphors, God is pruning the branches of our lives. Is your life shaken? God is drawing you to see the unshaken things that remain.
There are many different ways that the Bible talks about suffering: a refining fire (Isaiah 48:10, Proverbs 17:3), a cup (Luke 22:42), and more. We can use many metaphors here: refining, pruning, discipline, and shaking.
Suffering shakes us so that the unshakable kingdom, in our hearts, may remain.
Countercultural Suffering
In a culture that is preoccupied with ending suffering and finding personal happiness, this redemptive view of suffering is radical and strange. Our entire cultural focus is on how to feel happy and avoid suffering at all costs. This jeopardizes our integrity as we see the lack of suffering in our lives as the highest good.
People who have convictions suffer. They are unshakable. On the other hand, people who run from suffering will find themselves quite shakable. They will be tossed from one thing to another as they seek to find personal happiness. But personal happiness in a fallen world is never a secure foundation.
I’m not suggesting that we seek suffering out. Or that we intentionally live in such a way that our lives are never secure. But we can’t be paralyzed by the fear of the shaking. Our lives will be shaken. How will we respond? Will we trust in these fragile false hopes? Or will we trust in the security of God’s work for us and His character?
Do you stand on unshakable ground?