EARTHQUAKE EVENTS

 

And at midnight Paul and Silas prayed,
and sang praises unto God; and the
prisoners heard them.
And suddenly there was a great
earthquake, so that the foundations
of the prison were shaken: and
immediately all the doors were opened,
and every one's bands were loosed.
Acts 16:25,26

In our day, we hear of earthquakes all the time. We often see horrible aftermath pictures of destroyed buildings, people being discovered under rubble, emergency workers scurrying about and people put in ambulances. There are relief organizations that come to such a site from hither and yon. Relief funds are raised and damage control becomes an immediate necessity.

We have all read for years about Paul and Silas being in prison...singing and praying. All fellow prisoners heard them. They were all in a terrible situation as you and I are at times. Instead of our moaning and complaining, I wonder if fellow prisoners in their own circumstances see in us spirits of prayer and praise like with Paul and Silas, but that's beside the point.

The word that recently stood out to me in the above verses was the word “earthquake.” We have read that word and just skipped on to the next verse. We rarely stop to think about the fact that in the whole scenario of this event, a real, live earthquake occurred.

In my thinking, I'm recalling types of earth events in time past we may have known about or even experienced. They are: earth tremors, sink holes and full blown earthquakes. We might wonder how there could be an earthquake in a jail and all of the city still be standing. My explanation is the same one I give for anything like this: God can do anything He chooses to do however He wants to do it. If he wants to just shake one building up, He can do that so let's not let all of our wonderful head knowledge question what God can do when and where He wants to.

Tremors that occurs in an isolated part of the earth can be frightening. The one sturdy place you and I stand is on solid ground. We never think of it shaking or moving underneath our feet. When that happens, there's no place to run or hide. We fear being eaten up by the earth itself. There is no place to run and hide from those tremors under our feet.

Then there are sink holes, a type of earthquake, but in a different sense. We see pictures of there suddenly being a huge hole that develops on a city street or even in someone's back yard. The earth just seems to give way, swallowing anything located on that exact spot whether it be a car, house or backyard swing set.

Then there are the full blown earthquakes, some with horrific intensity and some more minor in their effect. With these, everything is effected within its radius. Buildings are either destroyed or so badly damaged they are beyond use. With this event, transportation is interrupted, water and gas lines erupt, people injured or killed and other unthinkable damage. Recovery from this type of earth event is long, tedious and painful and that requires great personal effort to get back to any normalcy.

Tremors can be unsettling and frightening. I've had such spiritual tremors in my own life. I look back and see how God designed those unsettling times to get me to another place in my life. It was often filled with personal insecurity, but when God allowed those tremors in my life, He was trying to get my attention and never left me alone in the process. I was usually either where I wasn't supposed to be or doing what I wasn't supposed to be doing. I found these to be slight warnings compared to what it could be if I didn't respond to God's prodding.

There are the sink holes that seem to appear out of nowhere in our lives. They usually mean some kind of loss that comes on us suddenly. Loss of possessions or even persons in our lives. I look back some 50 years to the death of my grandmother. She hadn't been ill very long but was found with cancer that was well advanced. The loss I felt was beyond explanation and in that time, God spoke to my heart in ways I hadn't paid attention to in many months. However, that “sink hole” time in my life proved to be life changing for me and with God's help, set me on a different path.

Fortunately, I haven't gone through a full blown earthquake. After moving to Tennessee, it was discovered by a new doctor that I had bladder cancer that had to be dealt with. Earthquakes in the lives of people will be different and varied. In the Christians life, these are often events to build us in our faith, to increase our faith. After this kind of quake, it's an event that really stays with us for a lifetime, especially when we've learned to lean on the Lord and come to trust Him in our every situation.

I don't speak of these three situations in a spiritual sense to say that God is out to totally destroy us. That's not His goal. He wants to pull us to Himself, to snuggle in His arms where HIS security is warm and a forever thing. Earthly parents do the same with their children, but our Father does it so much better in every way.

Is God trying to get our attention today? The quicker we respond in obedience, the less God will have to shake us up in some way. If we do go through some quake times, may we respond as God would have us respond. His goal is always love, our followership and drawing us to Himself. I just know that I never want to be on shaky ground with God and am sure you feel the same way.

Father...thank You for loving us enough to guide and direct us because the great plan You have for each of us. May we keep responsive hearts to Your every bidding knowing You do all things well in our lives. In Jesus' precious name....Amen