Earthquakes

 December 29, 2022

“When Israel went out of Egypt, 

The house of Jacob from a people of strange language, 

Judah became His sanctuary, 

And Israel His dominion. 

The sea saw it and fled; Jordan turned back. 

The mountains skipped like rams, 

The little hills like lambs. 

What ails you, O sea, that you fled? 

O Jordan, that you turned back? 

O mountains, that you skipped like rams? 

O little hills, like lambs? 

Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, 

At the presence of the God of Jacob, 

Who turned the rock into a pool of water, 

The flint into a fountain of waters.”

—Psalm 114:1-8 

For over 400 years, Israel preserved its identity while in bondage in Egypt. Where most oppressed cultures would have been assimilated into that of the greater power, Israel kept their own language, and in so doing, kept their soul. The strange thing about Israel’s history is that God was the one who brought them into Egypt in the first place, under the premiership of Joseph. God didn’t take them into Egypt to enslave them, but to incubate them, toughen them for the call he had placed upon them to be his unique people.

When the right time had come, God created seismological events that parted the Red Sea and dried up the Jordan, that caused Jericho’s walls to collapse, and Israel to win crucial battles. There were actual physical changes in the earth; volcanic and seismological events that enabled Israel to escape Egypt and conquer Palestine. 

“Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord.” This is not only a record of actual events; it is a symbolic statement to us. When life gets shaky, it’s not a sign of God’s absence, but of his presence. When things in life tremble and quad, it means God is at work delivering his people. We love smooth paths, but they’re not always a gift from God. Easy times may be the Enemy of our souls lulling us to sleep. Troubles are meant to drive us to our knees in repentance and faith; repentance—changing how we think, and faith—trusting in God’s mercy and grace.