Are You Looking to Return to Normal?

Photo Credit: Jaron Hanford, Pink Super-moon April 2020

I haven't been able to shake it - this Scripture about God shaking the heavens and the earth, removing the things that are being shaken, so that the things which cannot be shaken may remain. It's in Hebrews 12:26 & 27 if you want to read it for yourself, but it just feels so descriptive of our time.

Our economy? Shaken.
Our government? Shaken.
Our health system? Shaken.
Our education system? Shaken.
Our idols of entertainment? Shaken.
Our sense of normal? You got it. Shaken!

Suddenly, as I sit here and ponder this, it dawns on me:

God's great works are often preceded by shaking. 

Mathew 27:51 records an earthquake occurring at the time of Jesus's death. As though that weren't shocking enough, simultaneously the temple veil was torn from top to bottom, dead people walked out of their graves, and the centurion who had just crucified Jesus now fearfully proclaimed him the Son of God!

Or what about the Day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2 when the believers were all gathered together in one place and "there came a sound from heaven, as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting" (vs.2)?  Though invisible, the wind shakes everything it encounters. The imagery here cannot be ignored! Neither could the Holy Spirit's entrance, by the way: they saw symbolic fire seeming to rest upon God's people; they heard them speaking in tongues, yet understood it as though it were their own language; and after the Spirit's anointing came upon Peter, and ushered him to speak, at least 3,000 were shaken by his words and put their faith in Jesus.

Likewise, consider Paul and Silas, sitting in stocks, singing, when suddenly an earthquake shakes the very foundations of the prison so that the stocks and chains were loosed and the prison doors swung open! It shook the prison guard to the core.  He was about to take his own life (knowing the Roman repercussion for losing a single prisoner - let alone a whole prison full) until Paul and Silas stepped in and showed him the way to salvation (Acts 16).

Then it hit me!  Not only are God's great works often preceded by shaking,  this is also true:

God's great people go through a time of shaking.

Don't believe it?  Let's take a quick peek at just a few of them.

Joseph literally experienced dreams that his own family would worship him.  Those dreams were shaken when his brothers turned against him and sold him into slavery.  He found himself in Egypt, where God granted favor in his slave owner's home.  Then, through no fault of his own, even that sense of security was shaken, and he spent years in prison before being elevated to the second-highest ranking in all of Egypt, responsible for saving thousands of lives through God-given revelation knowledge.

In the next century, Moses's worldview was shattered when he, an adopted prince of Egypt, tried to help his own Israelite people.  Rejected by the Israelite slaves, shaken, and wanted for murder, he found himself on the run from Pharaoh, where for 40 years he tended flocks in the wilderness. At 80, shaken again, he encounters God in a burning bush (that isn't burning the way one might expect), and is called back to a destiny he never thought he'd have the chance to fulfill.

Next, consider David. Called in from shepherding the sheep, anointed by the prophet Samuel to become king of Israel, then sent back to supervise sheep. From there, he was sent to a battle he was not expected to fight in, became a hero after killing Goliath, and earned the right to become the king's son-in-law.  Sounds like the perfect set-up, right?  Perhaps... until the king, overcome by jealousy and evil spirits, determined it was time for David to die.  Suddenly, David's expectations were shaken and he found himself running for his life, questioning whether everything God had promised him was all a lie.

Then we have Daniel. Raised a prince in Israel, this teenager was taken captive to Babylon, likely forced to become a eunuch,  and thrown head-first into the deadly politics of the Babylonian government. Talk about culture shock!  Though we never see a lapse in Daniel's judgment, faithfulness, or integrity, one has to know his belief systems were radically shaken.

Jump ahead to the New Testament, where we find Saul, on the road to Damascus, a devout Jew, certain he is doing God a favor as he tries to stomp out the dangerous new sect calling themselves "Christians."  Blinded by a bright light and shaken from his donkey, Saul hears the voice of God Himself asking, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?... I am Jesus, who you are persecuting."  Yeah, I'd say he was shaken to the core before being set on the path to become Paul - God's chosen missionary whose work still impacts the world today.

So, in our present time, as I hear people tossing around the word "normal" and saying we've "lost our normal," or that we'll soon find a "new normal" after this COVID-19 scare,  I have to say, that's not my hope. Why?  Because I don't think you really want normal.

Psalms 139:16-17 says this:

"Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed. 

And in Your book they all were written, 

The days fashioned for me, 

When as yet there were none of them.  

How precious also are Your thoughts to me, O God!  

How great is the sum of them!  

If I should count them, they would be more in number than the sand; 

When I awake, I am still with you."

Did you catch that?  God is the author of your story! The God of the universe is consumed with thoughts of you. You have a purpose, a destiny.  Our God is not normal; why would He bother to write a story that was? Throughout the Bible, we see God doing the miraculous, bringing the supernatural into play in the lives of His people. Showing up, and showing off! Bringing glory to His Great Name! What an awesome God we serve!

"The people who know their God shall be strong and carry out great exploits."

-Daniel 11:32

So, no.  I don't pray that things will return to normal for you.  Instead, this is my prayer:

• I pray that you will be like Joseph, that God, in His favor, will give you revelation knowledge that provides life and sustenance for others in times of need.

• I pray that you will be like Moses, that you will step into your destiny when God calls you into roles that leads others out of bondage.

• I pray that you will be like David, that you will have a heart after God, a song on your lips, and that you will see all of His promises to you come true.

• I pray that you will be like Daniel, that you will have God-given wisdom and integrity that reaches into places of government and turns our culture back to Christ.

• I pray that you will be like Paul, that you set aside your past self in order to fulfill your new calling, that God will be able to use you as His witness to the nations, and that you will see signs and wonders as He performs his Word through your ministry, turning people "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to the Power of God" (Acts 26:18).

This is my prayer for you. Forget normal.  You were made for so much more!