Encouragement for Your Week: Nov. 30-Dec. 6

This Week’s Verse

“Once again I will shake the earth, but I will also shake heaven.”
- Hebrews 12:26

Devotion

When the presence of God shows up in the sinful and broken world in which we live, things get shaken to the very core. When God met Moses and the Israelites at Mount Sinai, the whole mountain shook, smoke, and fire rose off of it like a furnace, there was thunder and lightning, and a trumpet blast that got louder and louder. When God spoke to Moses, His voice sounded like thunder (Exodus 19:16-19). Needless to say, the people were very afraid. Even so, they did not listen to God (Hebrews 12:25).

In our verse for the week, the author of Hebrews quotes the prophet Haggai in order to claim that another day is coming when God will descend and shake the earth (Haggai 2:6). God will shake the earth at the time of Christ’s second coming. This future shaking will not be limited to a particular location, as was the case at Sinai. Instead, the whole earth will shake. Even the starry heavens above will shake. This future shaking will be a final shaking. Everyone who has not listened to God will be shaken by it. After that, the heavens and the earth will not need to be shaken ever again.

The shaking at Sinai was meant as a warning. It was a warning to people that they should listen to God. Every subsequent shaking and natural disaster is also meant to warn the people of the earth that they should listen to God. The final shaking will not be a warning. It will be the fulfillment of every warning—final judgment. There will be no more warnings and second chances. At that time, only that which cannot be shaken will remain (Hebrews 12:27).

In between God’s shaking at Sinai and His final shaking, He has spoken from heaven above (Hebrews 12:25). He has spoken to us through His son Jesus Christ (Hebrews 1:2). We can’t come to God and listen at Sinai anymore, but we can come to Jesus and listen. If we listen to Him and obey Him, we will never be shaken again. If we don’t listen, it will be worse for us in the great shaking to come than it will be for those who did not listen at Sinai (Hebrews 12:25).

This Week’s Challenge

Identify one area of your life where you’ve been ignoring or resisting God’s voice—then take one concrete step of obedience. This could look like: Reaching out to someone you’ve been avoiding, letting go of a habit you know isn’t honoring God, making time each day to read Scripture instead of rushing past it, acting on something you’ve felt God nudging you to do but keep delaying. Let God’s “gentle shaking” in your conscience lead you to respond now—so you can stand firm, unshaken in Christ in the days to come!