Shaking

This is a hard warning. I sat on it for a while because I wasn't sure of its application. Is it personal for me? Is it corporate, for the body of Christ? Is it for America as a whole? (Is it all of the above?) I don't know for certain, but Ezekiel 3:16-19 came to mind this morning when I was asking God if I should share it publicly, so here we go.

God started warning me about shaking some time ago, but in the last few weeks, these warnings have intensified. In the first shaking vision, I was standing before an imposing building. It had great columns and small windows. It reminded me architecturally of the US Supreme Court building and of the New York Stock Exchange building on Wall Street. I was standing close enough that it covered my entire field of view. It was huge, and I was insignificant. But as I watched, everything started shaking as though from an earthquake, and the center of the building collapsed into rubble. I could see beyond the rubble to a meadow, with flowers, birds, and sunshine.

As I think about it, I am reminded of the first part of Amos 9:1 (NIV):

I saw the Lord standing by the altar, and he said: "Strike the tops of the pillars, so that the thresholds shake..."

In context, Amos was preaching to the kingdom of Israel. Two years after Amos started preaching, a major earthquake happened (Amos 1:1.) Did it destroy the shrine in Bethel that Jeroboam had made for worship of the golden calves he had made (1 Kings 12)? I expect so, but I haven't noticed other references to it. I saw this vision of the building collapsing a few years ago, but I never shared it. Now however, God has started showing me shaking again-- and the warnings are getting more explicit.

Two weeks ago, I was having eye problems and using an antibiotic salve. I was riding as a passenger because I couldn't see to drive. Is not "seeing" significant? In Isaiah 6:10 (NIV) God is giving instructions to Isaiah:

"Make the heart of this people calloused;

make their ears dull

and close their eyes.

Otherwise they might see with their eyes,

hear with their ears,

understand with their hearts,

and turn and be healed."

As I was riding along, blind in one eye, I saw orange cones across the road ahead, forcing a merge. The right hand lane I was in was merging into the left lane. It looked so real that I did a double take, sure that we had to merge and my daughter who was driving would need help in getting over into the next lane. But as I looked ahead again, I realized it was a vision and not real life.

A few days later, I was again riding as a passenger in the right lane of a two-lane road when I saw another vision. This time, I saw rocks flowing across the road from the shoulder onto the road ahead. They completely covered the lane we were in and they were all continuously bouncing, as though the road were violently shaking. The first image that came to mind in response was the popcorn machine at the movie theater, where the tray is mechanically vibrating hard so that the un-popped kernels don't stick. The next image that came to mind was more graphic. It was the opening scene from the movie the Hurt Locker. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwCEE7m38VM At the 7 minute 30 second mark of the above clip, the bomb goes off and the ground shakes so violently from the concussion that the dirt and rocks levitate, as do the flakes of rust on the car frame. I saw this very vividly-- the rocks and rust levitating in the movie.

While I was praying about the vision a few days later, I saw a 1,000 lb. bomb. It looked like the Mark-83 general purpose bomb, used by the US Navy and Air Force. It was just sitting there, as though on a stand, ready for use. It wasn't buried in the ground or attached to an aircraft. It was just "there." It was present, in readiness.

But why? Why would God allow this level of shaking in our lives? Isaiah 48:10-11 (MSG) gives the motivation:

Do you see what I've done? I've refined you, but not without fire. I've tested you like silver in the furnace of affliction. Out of myself, simply because of who I am, I do what I do. I have my reputation to keep up. I'm not playing second fiddle to either gods or people.

I believe this shaking, this immanent crisis, is for the purpose of drawing us to him; drawing us back to Him. This purification fire-- the violent shaking that is coming-- will require a shift. A spiritual lane-change. Haggai 2:6-7 (NIV) tells us:

"This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'In a little while, I will once more shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations will come, and I will fill this house with glory,' says the LORD Almighty."

What will this shaking look like? War? Financial collapse? A grid-down event? I really don't know. But I do believe it will force a spiritual lane change. But how do we DO a lane change, one might ask. Good question! A couple of days ago, God showed me the driver's seat of a car, as viewed from the passenger seat. It was a bucket seat, covered with a cheap gray fuzzy seat cover. It reminded me of my first car, a 1991 Honda Civic hatchback with a 5 speed stick shift. But what struck me was all the stuff. The driver's seat was empty, but all this stuff was piled in the middle, between the two seats. It was random car-clutter; a bookbag, hat, sunglasses, a hoodie, bags of trash from the fast food drive-thru... The car would start, sure, but it wasn't going anywhere until the clutter was cleared away from the emergency brake and gear shift.

Carrie Underwood sings a popular song called "Jesus Take the Wheel." It's a great song, and it reminds me of the title of Robert L. Scott book "God is my Co-Pilot," about his days with the Flying Tigers in World War II. These are heart-warming sentiments, but God doesn't just want to take the wheel in an emergency. He actually wants to drive. Matthew 16:24 (NIV) recounts:

Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me..."

But I really like how the paraphrase The Message handles this passage:

Then Jesus went to work on his disciples. "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat. I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how..."

God doesn't want to just take the wheel. He doesn't want just to sit in the driver's seat and make "Vroom! Vroom!" noises like a small child grasping the steering wheel. No, He wants to actually drive, and I think that a lot of us have too much "clutter" in our lives spiritually. We have submitted to his leadership in getting out of the driver's seat, but the clutter is still in the way of our progress.

Shaking is coming. It is a rocky road ahead, and a spiritual lane-change is going to be required of us. To negotiate this lane change, God needs to be in actual control, which may necessitate a spiritual purging. So please join me in asking God what purging is required for him to drive us to the destination He has prepared for us. Ask that he remove any spiritual blindness so that we can see clearly. And lastly, ask God how he wants us to physically prepare for this shaking that's coming. (See Acts 11:27-30.)