One of my favorite features in the Mid-Week newspaper that is mailed to most homes here on Oahu is "News of the Weird". The March 18, 2020 edition featured this story.
For two whole years, Caelie Wilkes nurtured a lovely green succulent (includes the cactus family) in her kitchen window. She watered it, wiped dust off its leaves, and forbade anyone else from caring for it.
"It was full, beautiful coloring, just an overall perfect plant," Wilkes wrote in a Facebook post from February 28.
Recently…she decided it was time to transplant it into a pretty new pot. So imagine her dismay when she pulled up the succulent and realized it was plastic, rooted in Styrofoam with sand glued to the top.
"How did I not know this?" she wondered. "I feel like these last two years have been a lie."
Wilkes suffered some ridicule on social media, but her local Home Depot reached out with some real, living succulents that Wilkes can shower with love and attention
What Wilkes thought was genuine turned out to be artificial. She spent a lot of time taking care of something that wasn’t real. And she was upset to find that she was fooled (or foolish).
Hebrews 12:26-27 declares, "…now he has promised, 'Once more I will shake not only the earth but also the heavens.' The words 'once more' indicate the removing of what can be shaken—that is, created things—so that what cannot be shaken may remain."
The Big shaking is still to come, but shakings and tremors happen to us often. The Coronavirus Pandemic is shaking many people. They wonder what has happened and what is to come.
For many of us, it is a valuable time for evaluation. It's a time to ask the question: Where is your trust?
If your trust is in your job and salary, has it been shaken away?
If your trust is in the government, has it been shaken away?
If your trust is in your family and way of living, has it been shaken away?
Hopefully, your trust is in the Lord alone. He is the only One that cannot be shaken!
Sadly, for many Christians, their trust is in the Lord + ____. We declare that our trust is only in the Lord but, when the shaking comes, we find out something different.
For example, our work hours are reduced or gone, so we're worried about our lack of income or are upset that God isn't providing for us. We discover our trust was in the Lord + our income.
When the shaking is over, we find what is left (what is real and genuine) and where we truly have put our trust.
I challenge you to put All your trust in the Lord. Be like Habakkuk who declared that, no matter what devastation and shaking might come, “yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior” (3:18).
I’m reminded of the beautiful worship song, "Build My Life", which declares: "I will build my life upon Your love; it is a firm foundation. And I will put my trust in You alone and I will not be shaken."
Jesus Christ is the Sure Foundation that cannot be shaken and the Solid Rock that will not roll!
Let's give Him all the praise and glory. Get a bigger glimpse of His power and majesty through worship and let your faith grow and grow.