Haggai 2:6,7
In Haggai’s day God shook up the Heavens and the earth to awaken the people to their wrong priorities and to refocus them on the building of God’s House.
God is shaking up the world today so that we reprioritize our lives God’s way so as to get us to refocus on His will and purpose for our lives today.
A shaking may denote the judgement of the Lord.
Isa 13:13 – ‘The earth will move out of her place …’. Whatever is of the earth denotes carnality – the things of the flesh. When God brings about a shaking in our lives, everything that is earthy, of carnality, will be removed leaving only that which is of spiritual/eternal value.
1 Cor 15:47-50, 2 Cor 4:16-18, Job 38:13, Rom 8:7,8, Gal 5:16-18
However, we need to understand that the judgement of the Lord is not for our destruction but for our transformation.
Judgement can mean chastisement for correction.
Isa 26:9, 1 Cor 11:31,32, Heb 12:6-11, Phil 2:13
Shake me to shape me could also be rephrased as ‘break me to make me’.
When there is a shaking, the things that are of spiritual significance are fortified and given a solid foundation in our lives.
Col 3:1-4, Heb 12:25-28
CCC Hymn – Bawo lo ti w’adi oko re si, jowo ro daju Ijo Mimo
David asked God to x-ray his life.
Psm 139:23,24, Psm 51:6
Can you confidently ask God to do the same in your life? 1 John 1:8,9
Look at the way the potter breaks up the clay and moulds it to fit his purpose. God wants us to be vessels unto honour in His house. But at the time the potter starts the moulding process, the clay is just a lump – disfigured, misshapen, ugly. However, when the potter is done with the clay, a thing of beauty is produced.
Jer 18:1-10, 2 Cor 4:7, Romans 9:23,24,
2 Tim 2:20,21
Look at the way the gardener prunes the vine to make it more fruitful. The vine is stripped bare almost to the point of being destroyed. But no. The vine is not being destroyed neither will it die. The gardener knows that this pruning is necessary in order to get a bountiful harvest from the vine.
John 15:1-8
Look at how gold is refined in the furnace to take away the impurities and to bring out its gloss and radiant lustre. However, the gold had to endure the heat and pressure of the crucible in order to be purified.
Job 23:10, Prov 17:3, Mal 3:3, Isa 48:10
What am I saying? The process of being shaken is not going to be a pleasant one. It is a testing process. It is a training process. It is a disciplining process. It’s going to cost you. It’s going to make you cry. It’s going to change you. It might even cost you relationships. It might involve having to endure suffering. But it will make you want He wants you to be.
John 17:3, Rom 8:18, Phil 3:7-11, 1 Pet 5:9,
Gal 2:20,21, Jam 1:2-4, Heb 12:11, Isa 48:10
Song – He is able, more than able, to accomplish what concerns me today …
If you are so set in your ways as to be so rigid, so hardened through the deceitfulness of sin (Heb 3:13), if you are stubborn and not willing to yield easily in the hands of the Master, the shaking and shaping process will be quite a painful and harrowing experience.
Jer 20:9, Psm 22:14-17
You need to yield yourself in obedience to the Master’s will so that you become malleable enough for God to shape you into what He wants you to be.
We hear of many who had to be stripped down to nothing in order for them to heed the calling of the Master. We need to be wise and learn from the experiences of those who have passed through before.
Rom 15:4, 1 Cor 10:11
Better still, we need to look up to the Captain of our salvation, the author and finisher of our faith, the one who has gone before us to pave the way back to God, our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Phil 2:5-11, Heb 12:2,3, Heb 2:10, 1 John 3:1-3
This shaking and shaping (breaking and making) is the work of the grace of God.
CCC Hymn – Mo ti sonu sinu ese, ore Oluwa lo ri mi e …
Gal 1:15,16, Eph 3:7, Eph 2:8
Let’s look at Paul.
He was Saul, the zealot Pharisee that persecuted Christians. He thought he was doing God’s work but God had him in mind. But the grace of God located him and broke him down and shaped him to become a shining light to the early church and even down to our generation.
Phil 3:4-6 => 2 Cor 11:5 => 1 Cor 15:9,10 => 1 Tim 1:15
When God brings about a shaking, he is reforming, restructuring, restoring and redirecting us back to Himself in Holiness and righteousness.
He is a jealous God – Exo 34:14, Deut 5:6-9
He wants to have all our attention. Many of us have been bogged down with what shall we eat, what shall we drink, what shall we wear, how to accumulate wealth and riches and do not have time for God in our lives. We need to be mindful of not slipping down this spiral of complacency and presumption.
Matt 13:22, Rev 2:4, 1 John 2:15, Psm 19:13
Let’s also look at the life of Job.
He had everything. He was one of the greatest men of his time. But when God allowed him to be shaken, he lost everything – wife, children, property, assets, his respect, honour and reputation – everything. He was broken down even to the extent of his health. Yet God built him up again and Job gained a deeper understanding and appreciation of who God is. Now, I do not pray that we undergo such a dreadful experience as Job but I just want to drive home the point of the wisdom of God in the way he deals with us.
Job 33:14-18, Job 38:1-3, Job 42:1-6, Rom 11:33
Psm 24:1 makes us understanding that all things belong to God. God is not interested in material possessions and ascribes no value to them.
Psm 50:9-13, Hag 2:8
Therefore God has no qualms in stripping anyone of all these in order to bring about His will and purpose in our lives.
Luk 10:27, Matt 19:16-26, Prov 3:9, Deut 8:10
Other examples of people shaken and shaped by God; Moses, Jacob. We can see the hand of God moving in the shaping of their destinies though they didn’t initially know it. God had to break down their pride, arrogance, conceited attitude, their trust in their own intellect and cleverness in order to make them into what He wanted them to be.
Shake me to shape me means surrendering our will, our all, to the will and purpose of God for our lives. You have decided to consecrate the entirety of your being to God for God to sanctify you and set you apart unto Himself as a royal priesthood, a peculiar nation.
Luk 22:42, Rom 12:1,2, Gal 5:24, Jam 1:2,4, 1 Pet 2:9
Are you ready/willing to be shaken by God for Him to mould you into what He wants you to be?
Now after being shaken and shaped, we need to continue in the path of holiness and righteousness. We need the grace and strength of God to not go astray and to stay the course. For the Christian race is a marathon not a sprint.
1 Cor 10:12, Matthew 7:13
