Jerry’s Grill: Shakin’ in the House
During my Bible college years, I was crazy for rock music. “Man, if you’re not rockin’ you ain’t good for nothin’…” The band Petra was on top on my list because they had a strong biblical foundation. More so, their music really rocks. “God Gave Rock n’ Roll to You”, “All over Me”, “Clean” and a host of others. But most special to me was the song “Shakin’ The House”:
There’s a rumble in the distance - a trembling in the air
It’s uncertain in direction - does it come from here or there
It’s approaching by the minute - does it lead you to despair
Feel it shakin’ your foundation - when you haven’t got a prayer
You examine your foundation - does it stand on rock or sand
When the smoke clears, does it bring fears - when the houses fall or stand
In the fire of refining - with the flames too high to douse
You remember someone saying it’s beginning in the house
Then the Chorus goes:
Everything that can be shaken will be shakin’ from within
Better have your house in order when the shaking begins
Shakin’ the house
Shakin, shakin’ the house
Be it Bob Hartman or the apostle who wrote the Book of Hebrews, the message is clear - “…that all of creation will be shaken and removed, so that only unshakable things will remain”( Heb 12:27). It is not for the annihilation of this material fabric, nor is it for reducing all things to their primitive chaos. It is talking about “the removing of those things which when shaken are easily displaced – things the apostle Paul described as ‘perishable workmanship’. Then there is the consolidating of what resists and survives the shaking into an immovable creation, that is so stable, so unchanging, and spreads itself out before us in such a manner that is sparkling, holy, pure and upright.
However, as C. H. Coleman puts it: “I observe, the holiness of the righteous is maintained with difficulty in resisting and overcoming the evil dispositions which are inherent in their fallen nature. . . The righteous often find it difficult to bear their trials with Christian consistency, being liable to impatience and irritability, through want of watchfulness in trials comparatively light and transient, and strongly urged to discontent and resistance of will, through distrust of God and failure in spiritual firmness, in trials severe and lasting.”
I wish there were simple formulas to make it through the shaking. But as “The stormy shower lighteth first on the high hills, and having washed them, settleth with all the filth in the valleys” – let me inform you that Judgment begins at the house of God.
Therefore, “Let us serve God not merely with certain portions of our lives, but our entire life from the moment that we believe. A life redeemed to God, and is, therefore, repossessed to be His property. Serving God in a consecrated life, set apart, with our holy garments upon us, our censers in our hands, and standing under the shadow of the glory, and not giving way to any form of unrighteousness, or wickedness, or indolence in circumstances so unutterably solemn and overawing.”
In these “shaking times” let us make certain that we do our service:
ACCEPTABLY - That is, so as to please God in all that we do. In our prayers, praises, duties, we are not only to gratify ourselves but to please God. Let us observe, however, that to serve God acceptably, is not to serve for the purpose of making ourselves accepted. No; before our services can be accepted, we must be accepted ourselves. A saint is not one who serves God in order to be forgiven, but one who, having found forgiveness, serves God in love and liberty as a forgiven soul, and with an grateful heart.
WITH REVERENCE AND GODLY FEAR - There is to be no irreverence, no rashness, no presumption in our service, as if God were one like ourselves, or nearly upon our level. There is to be fear and solemn awe when we consider Whom we worship; who we are who are thus permitted to draw near; in what Temple it is that we worship, and what Blood it cost before we could be permitted to enter.
BY HOLDING FAST ON GRACE AND BEING GRACIOUS - When that free love of God entered our souls, it brought with it liberty and gladness and light. It dispelled all our darkness, it removed all our sorrows, it struck off every fetter, and blessed us with the liberty of God’s beloved Son. And it is in this same love that we are to abide to the end. We are to beware of losing sight of it, or letting it go.
Our God is a Consuming Fire. This obviously comes in as an additional reason why we hold on to grace and it is the most weighty and solemn one. The Fire, indeed, has not consumed us, but still it is consuming. The God with whom we have to do is a God who has saved us, yet still this very God Whom we call ours is a Consuming Fire. Should we not, then, serve Him with reverence and godly fear? Remember the song: “Everything that can be shaken will be shakin’ from within; Better have your house in order when the shaking begins.”
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