Author: Christine Wyrtzen

At that time his voice shook the earth, but now he has promised, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.” This phrase, “Yet once more,” indicates the removal of things that are shaken—that is, things that have been made—in order that the things that cannot be shaken may remain. Therefore let us be grateful for receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, and thus let us offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming fire.  Hebrews 12:26

It was an earthquake.  The whole mountain, Mt. Sinai, trembled violently when God descended upon it.  The law was given, God spoke, and His power proved that He had ultimate authority.  To have stood at the base of that mountain would have been awe inspiring, even terrifying.  Exodus 19

One day, there will be another shaking.  (Haggai 2)  Perhaps we are feeling its beginnings!   God will shake, not just the mountains, but the earth and the heavens combined.  He will end the corrupt power of kings and rulers and establish the reign of His Son, Jesus.  He will also destroy the evil one and all of his demons, the very spirits who worked through every flawed leader to inflict cruelty and corruption. What a day of promise for God’s children and what a day of dread for all those who have rejected the way of salvation and the rule of God in their lives.

Shaking separates.  Shaking reveals what is solid beneath the veneer.  What is pure is left, what is defiled breaks loose.  So it shall be in the end times, and yet, so it is today for any of us who are in a time of trembling.  In God’s sovereignty, suffering has defined our current season of life.  Our world trembles and, with the shaking, the substance at the center of our lives is revealed.  For the one who has planted the seeds of the Word of God in their heart and learned to live in kingdom shoes, faith in God remains. For others, a vast emptiness opens up behind the veneer of religiosity.

Your righteousness is like the highest mountains, your judgments like the deepest sea. O LORD, You preserve man and beast.  Psalm 36:6  Oh, that I would have my world in order!  When I look into the face of Jesus, I tremble with awe.  When I look into the fires of adversity, I tremble with fear, yet also with a faith that sustains.  When I look into the expanse of eternity, I tremble with anticipation.  Evil will be vanquished and the righteous ones will remain in the courts of our God.

Trembling is my opportunity for introspection.  Reveal the substance of my life.  Amen

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you.   Isaiah 54:10

In 1998, I met an older lady (never married) who lived and cared for her mother.  They lived together and had both devoted their lives to intercessory prayer.  They were on staff at a large church in Cincinnati.  I was privileged to be in their weekly prayer meeting and, by far, no one has shaped my prayer life like these two. The mother is now in heaven and her daughter, in her 70’s, has become a beautiful friend of mine.  Once every few months, she will call with stories about God  and how He has broken through in prayer to teach and reveal Himself.

She called yesterday morning to share a dream she had this past week.  Immediately, I was engaged.   In the dream, she saw a beautiful oak tree.  It was old, sturdy, and strong.  As she stood appreciating it, an oozing black slime came from beneath the soil, spread out horizontally like its roots were expanding, and then proceeded to climb the trunk of the tree in order to take it over and kill it.  She watched helplessly and feared the worst.  But, where the trunk ended and the branching began, the takeover stopped.  It was as if there was an invisible line it couldn’t cross.  This is not too unlike the narrative from the book of Job.  Satan was given permission to oppress Job but God drew a definite line and he wasn’t allowed to cross it.

Waking up, she sought God about the meaning of the dream and whether it was relevant for these times.  She believed it was symbolic of this worldwide pandemic.  It has spread its roots and it is oppressing, but not entirely destroying.  It is testing God’s people, but it not overtaking their faith.  This crisis is refining the church, renewing dependence on God, and is bringing spiritual awakening across the globe.

Oh, but at great cost.  The mountains are shaking.  The familiar hills of our past are disappearing.  But one thing remains and in this truth we are not destroyed; we are pressed down but not forsaken.  God’s love is unfailing.  God’s covenant of peace with us, through Christ, is not threatened by chaos.  When we lay down our head at night, there is a resident calm, even in the turmoil.  God’s compassion has not ceased and His peace is still promised.

God is talking in the thunder. He is speaking through a microscopic virus that has brought a whole planet to its knees.  I pray we are listening – and then bowing in submission.

Lord, we do not know the extent of the damage and what remains to be shaken loose.  But this we know ~ nothing shall separate us from your love, your peace, your compassion.  Just as more rainbows will appear, we remember your covenant.  Amen

The Lord will give you the bread of adversity and the water of affliction, but your Teacher will no longer hide Himself—with your own eyes you will see Him. And whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear this command behind: “This is the way.”   Isaiah 30:20-21

There will be a future date, far beyond the life of Isaiah, when Jesus and his disciples are in a boat in the middle of the sea.  The opposite shore is nowhere in sight.  It is dark and the sea is churning.  Uncertainty and fear overtake them.  At that moment, Jesus appears and is walking toward them on top of the water.  They had just seen Him feed five thousand people with one small meal yet this sight is beyond comprehension.  His power continually surprises them.

Jesus, knowing their fear, “It’s Me. Don’t be afraid.”  Like a child whose parent shows up to take care of everything, their fears turn to calm.  Pounding heartbeats normalize.  Adrenalin subsides.

All of us are navigating our lives.  Often, there’s no light on our path. Wisdom for the next step is completely elusive. The shore is behind us. Everything familiar is out of sight.  Today, we are certainly in these uncharted waters, feeling inadequate.  The sea is churning.  Passages are difficult.  Fears are intensifying and rational thoughts are no longer constant.  The roar of the waves bombard our senses and functioning normally is not an option right now.

Where is Jesus?  He is in view and asks to be invited into the boat.  His words can be heard even in the midst of the storm.  “It’s Me.  Don’t be afraid.”  Adversity and affliction are a sure thing in this world as long as I’m on this side of heaven.  But what a promise today’s scripture delivers.  He has not hidden Himself from His disciples.  When sought, He will be found.  The eyes of our Spirit see Him and He, alone, is our anchor.

Never has a voice been as sweet as Yours, Lord, heard beneath the noise of my life.   Amen

Your sun will never go down, and your moon keep back her light; the LORD will be your eternal light, and your days of your sorrow will be ended.  Isaiah 60:20

One of the things I love to do in the middle of the night is to take a verse completely apart.  Each significant word is unwrapped, the meaning captured in a journal.  After it’s dismantled, what a rewarding exercise to paraphrase it with my new understanding.  (No, the paraphrase is not inspired.  I can see some theologians wincing!)  The paraphrase is for me to personalize the Word and take it to heart.

When I encountered this verse, it was 3:30 a.m., and I thought I knew what it meant.  I almost moved on to the next but stopped.  I’m excited to share what happened next as each concept was unwrapped.

Sun ~ is God and His divine love and wisdom.

Going down ~ refers to natural and earthly things, lower in value.

Moon ~ signifies an intelligence in the natural self.

Light ~ is divine truth; knowledge and understanding that come to us from the Lord.

Eternal light ~ ‘is the fervor of the church, the zeal of those who live in love with the Lord.

Days ~ describes a state in which we are turned toward the Lord and are receiving light .

Sorrow ~ encompasses the anxieties and warfare we experience while learning the truth.

The clock said 4:30 and I was wide awake. I realized that each concept expanded in a direction I never would have gone.  I couldn’t wait to paraphrase it, and when I finished, I would go back to sleep ~ in peace.  Here’s my paraphrase.

God’s divine love and wisdom will never stoop to become earthly things, nor will my natural intelligence diminish divine truth. The power and goodness that are God, Himself, will make me as an innocent soul who lives in love with the Lord.  The days I turn toward God and seek His light will greatly affect my anxiety and my ability to engage in warfare in my fight for God’s truth.

It’s always a surprise to discover what a verse really means compared to what I thought it meant.  How many have I skipped over because of false presumptions of understanding?  A lot.  I am making up for lost time.  The big takeaway from this scripture, for these times, is the remedy for anxiety and the ingredient needed for the spiritual energy to do warfare.

Your Word always means more than I think it did.  I’m learning that this is true across the board.  You are bigger than I think you are.  Your love is wider than I can conceive.  Everything about you is too large for me to grasp and when I breathe my last, I’ll only have just begun to know You.  I love my future.  Amen

“For I will pour water upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground:  Isaiah 44:3

How much do I treasure what happened at Pentecost?  I’ve said goodbye to loved ones who are now in heaven.  My mother died when I was 30.  I never knew my grandfathers.  My grandmothers passed away when I was 25.  My Dad went home to heaven in 2003. And our son, Ryan, in 2019 on Father’s Day.  When you have had those you love near you, and then they’re gone, the absence is both excruciating and disorienting before it is comforting.

So to be a disciple of Jesus, to have had Him with you and then see Him leave, would leave a void the likes no one has experienced unless you lived in 33 A.D.  They didn’t say goodbye to a son, or parent, or wife or husband; they said goodbye to the fullness of God sitting next to them.  The One who was Wisdom walked with them.  The One who was Love consistently discerned their spiritual and physical needs and spoke into their thoughts with perfectly crafted language.  When He announced that He was leaving, I can’t imagine the panic and perhaps even the sense of betrayal they felt.  The caveat in his announcement, however, was the promise that He would not leave them as orphans and would come back to them again in better form.

It was only months later that Pentecost happened.  They got back the One they lost and it was better.  He was right! Instead of walking with Him on the roads of Judea, they were filled with His presence.  The words from the scrolls of Isaiah washed over them as their internal wilderness was transformed by the incoming floods of Living Water.

This is the greatest of all gifts today.  What I think I need most may not be my greatest need.  Nothing is more important today, even stacked up against the unraveling of our way of life, than being filled with the Holy Spirit’s power so that my faith may be full.

Oh Spirit of God, be poured out upon those who don’t have you or even want you.  Bring those dead in sin to living faith.  Be poured out to comfort those whose hearts are broken, to encourage those who are disillusioned with you.  Be poured out upon the dry bones of our lives, the places where the smell of death is still in the air.  Be poured out upon the Word which we know, the Word which has been preached to us, prayed over us, and yet has not taken root to change us.  Touch our barren landscapes with the promise of green.  We are the dry ground and You are the river.  Amen

It is I who says of Cyrus, ‘He is my shepherd! And he will perform all My desire.’  And he declares of Jerusalem, ‘She will be built’ and of the temple, ‘Your foundation will be laid.’  Isaiah 44:28 

As we sit on calamitous events, it’s instinctive to ask God where He is in all of it.  Oh, how Isaiah’s voice reassures us in our fears.  Under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, he predicted the coming of Cyrus to deliver God’s people from exile.  At the time of this writing, Cyrus was not even born yet.  It would be another 200 years before he arrived on the scene to do exactly what God said He would.

God had predicted Israel’s defeat and capture before they were carried off into captivity.  God had predicted, with great detail, what exile would be like and how they were to survive it.  Now through Isaiah, God predicted their deliverance through a foreign ruler the likes of Cyrus.  He had always been their God and He is still waiting to fulfill more prophecies concerning future events.

No one changes the courses of God’s Word.  This inspires holy fear, respect, and worship for who He is.  His prediction of Cyrus comforts us since life has taken a turn and our immediate future is uncertain.  Just as surely as I’m writing this, He knows the nature of our exiles and deliverances.  The names of those who will shape our future are already pre-chosen. All is on schedule to lead us to glory.

Just as God has foreknowledge of the main characters which comprise the leadership of world governments, He also has foreknowledge of every single detail which comprise our lives.  He spoke our name long before we existed, called us by name at our moment of re-birth, and will speak our name again when He welcomes us home.  Our past, present, and future was written with red ink and not one step (though uncertain as it may seem for us) causes Him to worry about us.

He is the God who dismantles and the God who re-builds.  He is the God who wounds and the God who comforts.  He is the God of the faithful and the God of the exiles.  In these days when anger and fear make up our global emotional climate, we trust a Father who whispers, “Don’t be afraid.”  Our life does not begin and end with deliberate, even erratic actions, of powerful people.  God’s scepter of justice holds them in check.

Your people are written, prophetically, into these days.  Let us rise up to carry out the work of an ambassador with confidence and joy.  Amen