Job 9:6

God shakes the earth from its place,

   And its pillar’s tremble.

(Written 6/15, Posted 6/17)

I have now been working pretty much full time for a month. It is definitely something that is easier once you get use to it. Our pastor is now out on sabbatical, and I cannot help but think that is a better path than several short vacations and definitely better than trying to enjoy not working when trying to find steady work.

My first response to reading this verse was the physical aspects of the earth and pillars, but my mind immediately went to pillars of the community and the image of the earth as our “please don’t change it” way of life. As everyone says, the only thing that does not change is change, so as hard as one might try to keep everything the same, it is impossible.

The churches we have attended recently are members of the Southern Baptist Convention which has taken a beating recently for bad behavior of its leaders. Our local paper has been a driving force in rooting out something that would sell newspapers, and it got them a big award of some kind. We have been involved in the children’s ministry and I know our local church has been battling the issue at least since we showed up, and I have never felt our kids and their safety were not a true priority of the church leadership. But apparently the very highest levels of the convention were doing things the wrong way and they needed to be shaken up.  I feel terrible for all the people negatively impacted by the indefensible actions of these leaders, but it does not mean that every church or every person in the group is actively sinning against others, but it does mean we have to be vigilant.

God was represented by the pronouns he, who, and which by my sources, but I put in God to be clear. From its place was also out of its place and in its setting. I actually liked the idea presented by in its setting but felt from its place had a more wide-ranging possibility of application.

Tremble was also suggested as quake, totter, and shudder. Tremble just had more of the human element in my mental image, so I used it.

Our country has seen an upset in the baby formula supply due to a combination of people too cheap to follow procedures and domination of the market by large faceless corporations pushing the boundaries of legality and ethics to make more money. This love of money ruins us all. Sometimes there are consequences to the innocent. Our government is supposed to protect the powerless from the powerful, but it seems to function more to serve the powerful.

History is full of God upsetting the balance of power in order to bring the focus back to Him. I believe the faithful and the powerless are aching for a righteous man to lead our country. I know Donald Trump is not that person and a recent story I read made it seem that however righteous Mike Pence might be, he has no chance after offending the “Trumpers”. I am sure Mike Pence is a sinner, but I am convinced he is a Christian seeking the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I want a man like that to lead us back into a place that more closely resembles the Kingdom of God. Maybe God will shake the world enough to allow that to happen. We can only pray.