The thought of a frog invasion makes my skin crawl. Can you imagine? You turn on the sink, out hops an army of frogs; you open your cupboard, more frogs; you pull back the sheets on your bed to the insidious croaking of ribbet, ribbet, ribbet. The slimy amphibians swarm over everything in sight. Ugh!
The Egyptians had already experienced one bloody plague. The waters of every lake, well and cistern had turned to blood. The life-giving streams of the Nile River became a cesspool of dead fish. It was only the beginning. Eight more plagues would follow in a miraculous display of the power and supremacy of the Almighty God (Exodus 7-12).
Clearly, Egypt was being shaken. And how did the Pharaoh of Egypt respond? He doubled down. Rather than repenting…and relenting…he hardened his heart.
Fast-forward to the 21st century. Would you agree there’s a whole lotta’ shakin’ goin’ on in our world today? Like a giant wrecking ball hovering in the distance, the shaking threatens to smash everything from political parties to countries to the Church itself.
The question: how will we respond to the shaking? Will we be like Pharaoh and simply deny the truth? Will we cling to idols we’ve created to rescue us? Or will we hold fast to what cannot be shaken? Only things glued to the truth will remain standing.
Truth matters. Perhaps more than anything in times of shaking. Never underestimate the power of truth. The whole earth may shake, the foundations be destroyed, but the God of truth remains unshakeable. When it seems everything is falling apart, don’t be plagued with hopelessness. God brought his people out of a chaotic Egypt. In fact, he used the chaos to secure their deliverance.
We don’t have to be afraid of the looming wrecking ball. No matter how much shaking is going on, our God remains firm, steady, secure. Who knows? Maybe all this shaking will cause some unwanted sediment in our own lives to surface so we can get rid of it.
Now that would be a really good shaking….