Bible League: Living His Word "Once again I will shake the earth, but I will also shake heaven."When the manifest presence of God shows up in this 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 today, the author of Hebrews quotes the prophet Haggai in order to make the 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 earth that they should listen to God. The final shaking, however, is not meant as a warning. It is the fulfillment of every warning in final judgement and destruction. There will be no more warnings and 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). Stand firm in Christ, then, so that you will never be shaken. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingProverbs 23, 24 Proverbs 23 -- When you sit to eat with a ruler, consider diligently what is before you; NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Proverbs 24 -- Don't be envious of evil men; neither desire to be with them: NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading 2 Corinthians 5 2 Corinthians 5 -- Walk by Faith, and Not Sight; Christ's Love Compels us to Ministry NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God's glorious standard.Insight Some sins seem bigger than others because their obvious consequences are much more serious. Murder, for example, seems to us to be worse than hatred, and adultery seems worse than lust. But this does not mean that because we do lesser sins we deserve eternal life. All sin makes us sinners, and all sin cuts us off from our holy God. All sin, therefore, leads to death (because it disqualifies us from living with God), regardless of how great or small it seems. Challenge Don't minimize “little” sins or overrate “big” sins. They all separate us from God, but they all can be forgiven. Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Psalm 84:6 Who passing through the valley of Baca make it a well, the rain also filleth the pools.This teaches us that the comfort obtained by a one may often prove serviceable to another; just as wells would be used by the company who came after. We read some book full of consolation, which is like Jonathan's rod, dropping with honey. Ah! we think our brother has been here before us, and digged this well for us as well as for himself. Many a "Night of Weeping," "Midnight Harmonies," an "Eternal Day," "A Crook in the Lot," a "Comfort for Mourners," has been a well digged by a pilgrim for himself, but has proved quite as useful to others. Specially we notice this in the Psalms, such as that beginning, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul?" Travellers have been delighted to see the footprint of man on a barren shore, and we love to see the waymarks of pilgrims while passing through the vale of tears. The pilgrims dig the well, but, strange enough, it fills from the top instead of the bottom. We use the means, but the blessing does not spring from the means. We dig a well, but heaven fills it with rain. The horse is prepared against the day of battle, but safety is of the Lord. The means are connected with the end, but they do not of themselves produce it. See here the rain fills the pools, so that the wells become useful as reservoirs for the water; labor is not lost, but yet it does not supersede divine help. Grace may well be compared to rain for its purity, for its refreshing and vivifying influence, for its coming alone from above, and for the sovereignty with which it is given or withheld. May our readers have showers of blessing, and may the wells they have digged be filled with water! Oh, what are means and ordinances without the smile of heaven! They are as clouds without rain, and pools without water. O God of love, open the windows of heaven and pour us out a blessing! Daily Light on the Daily Path John 7:37 Now on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, "If anyone is thirsty, let him come to Me and drink.Psalm 84:2 My soul longed and even yearned for the courts of the LORD; My heart and my flesh sing for joy to the living God. Psalm 63:1,2 A Psalm of David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah. O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water. • Thus I have seen You in the sanctuary, To see Your power and Your glory. Isaiah 55:1 "Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters; And you who have no money come, buy and eat. Come, buy wine and milk Without money and without cost. Revelation 22:17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who wishes take the water of life without cost. John 4:14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him shall never thirst; but the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water springing up to eternal life." John 6:55 "For My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. 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