Shaken
Have you ever heard someone say, “It shook me to my core?”
How about, “I was shaken by it?”
This is a way of describing someone who is emotionally or physically disturbed by something that took place. This kind of thing can challenge a person’s confidence and resolve.
Being shaken can occur when certain expectations that were built on a set of beliefs are challenged in a way that seems to indicate an impossibility of the expectations being fulfilled.
It can happen when someone believes something about a person only to find out that what they believed has been proven to be wrong.
Such events can have an impact on our mental state, and when they do, it means we are shaken.
This kind of thing can occur many times over in a person’s life. So what can be done to defend against such shakings?
There’s an interesting quote remembered in Acts that speaks to this. Peter, in referencing the execution of Jesus and the potential for disappointment and shaking that it could produce, said,
Acts 2:22 “Men of Israel, hear these words: Jesus of Nazareth, a Man attested by God to you by miracles, wonders, and signs which God did through Him in your midst, as you yourselves also know— 23 Him, being delivered by the determined purpose and foreknowledge of God, you have taken by lawless hands, have crucified, and put to death; 24 whom God raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that He should be held by it. 25 For David says concerning Him:
“I foresaw the LORD always before my face, for He is at my right hand, that I may not be shaken. 26 Therefore my heart rejoiced, and my tongue was glad; Moreover my flesh also will rest in hope. 27 For You will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will You allow Your Holy One to see corruption. 28 You have made known to me the ways of life; You will make me full of joy in Your presence.’
Whenever I am on a beach, I like to find a reference point to look to because when you’re in the water, the current tends to move you away from your starting point. This can be a lifeguard tower or some other fixed-position item that stands out to me. By having such a reference, I know when I am getting away from where I should be.
For Jesus, this practice was also true. According to this prophetic psalm concerning Jesus, He kept the Lord before His face. He observed the fixed position of the Lord as being at His right hand. Why did He do this? So that He might not be shaken.
Jesus would be made to suffer horribly, and in such a manner, it could cause the strongest of men to question who they are, what they’ve done, whether it was worth it, and so on. But Jesus remained steadfast in His resolve and His knowing. He wasn’t shaken. He was so fixed on the Lord and His promises to Him that even His flesh rested in hope. He endured the cross by way of having a fixed position in the Lord. One aspect of His great hope was the fact that He had a promise that He would be made full of joy in the presence of God.
Have you become aware of the promise of His presence so much that it produces great hope in you? Have you become convinced that His presence is always with you to the point that whatever happens to you, you can still experience joy because of His presence with you? Do you know the ways of life as He shows them? If you do, you will not be shaken. You’ll live prepared for whatever may come your way, knowing with confidence that He will never leave you, nor will He ever forsake you. The hope of the promise of His presence is key to not being shaken in life.
