Blessed In Trials

“At that time His voice shook the earth, but now He has promised, ‘Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.’ 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 12:26-27)

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to live through the events of Revelation? What would you understand? How would you react? Here in long-blessed America, we as a nation have not often suffered wave after wave of unspeakable calamities. Not only our resiliency but also our capacity for repentance remain unmeasured.

Any reasonably observant person, whether a believer or not, has to admit that massive extraordinary events – as they say, of epic or Biblical proportions – are now happening in our nation and world. Each day brings another stunning financial, political or moral scandal, on top of natural and personal devastations of various sorts. I believe these are precursors of things to come, tremors before the tribulation.

They continue. Two more men became international spectacles this week because of their immense personal guilt and their far-reaching betrayals of others. One man is the governor of a major state, arrested at his home early Wednesday morning for unimaginable political corruption that shocked even the desensitized. Before and after, he has remained defiant and arrogant. The other man is a Wall Street legend, arrested at his home early Thursday morning for unparalleled financial fraud that snared even the elite. Before and after, he has confessed everything in detail.

In the midst of divine shaking and revealing, even on an international scale, God wants one small thing. He wants the heart of a person who will love and trust and follow Him, one who humbly accepts by faith His gift of the Redeemer Who alone can pay for sin. So much, for so little? Yes, the undeserving sinner great or small is the object of His love quest, that He might bless you with forgiveness and adoption as His child, a cherished heir of His entire kingdom.

“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.’” (Hebrews 12:28-29)