Warm days and Cool nights. What does the weather have to do with anything, you might ask? For those of us who have lived in California for any period of time, we would call this earthquake weather. Just like the South has hurricane season and the Midwest has tornado season, we too have earthquake season. I think it is because the ground expands during the day when it is warm and contracts at night when it cools down. I believe there are seasons in our spiritual lives as well.
We should be preparing daily for a "spiritual earthquake." Many friends that I have talked with lately seem to be experiencing tremors. Much like a planter will shake a bush to get the dead leaves and/or fruit to drop, the Church can be shaken up to see who is standing firm on the Rock of Jesus. The book of Isaiah talks about a people who have conformed to the culture and have become unstable. This actually shook me up a bit. (No pun intended.) I must confess, I have. It says, "You have abandoned your people, the house of Jacob. They are full of superstitions from the East; they practice divination like the Philistines and clasp hands with pagans. 7 Their land is full of silver and gold;there is no end to their treasures. Their land is full of horses; there is no end to their chariots. 8 Their land is full of idols; they bow down to the work of their hands, to what their fingers have made. 9 So man will be brought low and mankind humbled— do not forgive them. 10 Go into the rocks, hide in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty! 11 The eyes of the arrogant man will be humbled and the pride of men brought low; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day. 12 The LORD Almighty has a day in store for all the proud and lofty, for all that is exalted (and they will be humbled), 13 for all the cedars of Lebanon, tall and lofty, and all the oaks of Bashan, 14 for all the towering mountains and all the high hills, 15 for every lofty tower and every fortified wall, 16 for every trading ship and every stately vessel. 17 The arrogance of man will be brought low and the pride of men humbled; the LORD alone will be exalted in that day, 18 and the idols will totally disappear. 19 Men will flee to caves in the rocks and to holes in the ground from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. 20 In that day men will throw away to the rodents and bats their idols of silver and idols of gold, which they made to worship. 21 They will flee to caverns in the rocks and to the overhanging crags from dread of the LORD and the splendor of his majesty, when he rises to shake the earth. 22 Stop trusting in man, who has but a breath in his nostrils. Of what account is he?" (Isaiah 2:6-22) What's that phrase we learn as children in school? Duck and cover? I think that is what verse 19 means.
For those of us who have experienced earthquakes, most of the time we don't see too much damage. Partly because here in California we have built our buildings and prepared our land to handle them. There have been places that experienced such devastation when an earthquake happened, that it wiped out a whole city. As a follower of Jesus, this is why it is so important to be in the Word, in worship and prayer every day. We are building a foundation that will withstand any spiritual earthquake that may come our way. If we will hide the Word of God in our heart, then when the earth is shaken under our feet, it's like having a spiritual earthquake survival kit on hand. It's all stored up and ready to be used in time of need.
