Earthqaukes aren't all bad

This last Friday was Golden Gate’s graduation. As the president gave the concluding words he shared a story from the book of Acts. He shared about Paul and Silas in prison, singing and praising God while they were in stocks. As Paul and Silas were singing and the rest of the prisoners were listening, God sent an earthquake that opened the doors of the prison and removed the chains and stocks from their hands and feet… The story continues and Paul and Silas were released from prison, but after the Jailer and his family all came to believe in Jesus.

I think of another event in Acts when the believers were praying after they had faced some persecution. As they cried out to God and were praying for boldness, the place they were meeting shook. By the power of God’s Spirit they were filled with boldness and continued to go out and share the message of Jesus.

I can still remember clearly the very firsts earthquake I experienced.  I was 8 years old, in the Philippines. The ground shook beneath me that day and shattered many homes and buildings throughout the Philippines, yet at the end of it all, my home was still left standing. I came to the conclusion then that I would always be protected. Boy was I wrong.

There weren’t too many earthquakes that followed that one in the course of my life, but there were definitely significant events that I could classify as earthshaking or life shaking moments. When those moments occurred I wasn’t standing so tall. In fact I was crying out to God asking, “why are you trying to shatter my world?”

As I think of these stories in Acts I realized God is working in those earthquakes, and he is doing something amazing.  As I look back at my own earthshaking moments, I realized God was doing something then as well. He used those low moments, those earthquakes to breakdown the strongholds in my life that was keeping me from him, and from fulfilling His purpose for me. I didn’t always feel protected and safe, in fact during those earthshaking moments, I felt hurt and pain, but as those moments pass, and all the rubble was cleared, one thing was left standing, one thing I can always count on: God was there to hold me up. A lesson I often need to learn and re-learn is God is faithful and trustworthy, and sometimes it takes an earthquake to remember that.