There’s a whole lotta shakin’ going on!

Here in the Midwest, we live with tornadoes.  It’s just a way of life; you kind of get used to it, but it’s best not to get TOO used to it, if you get my drift.

One thing we don’t get much of is another kind of “drift”, an earthquake.  Evidently, I’ve been in one without knowing it.  My husband said the test tubes in his lab rattled, but I sure wasn’t privy to anything.  Our family out in California, however, understands this geological phenomenon somewhat more up close and personal.  There’s just something about being woken up with your bed bouncing around that does something to your sleep pattern—no thank you, I prefer the tornado, at least I generally have some warning.

I have to think that earthquakes, even the smaller kind, can cause one to realize just how much we are seriously NOT in control.  No advance notice, and our best efforts to withstand them can be wiped out in seconds.

Evidently, the writer of this Psalm understood that concept:

When the earth quakes and its people live in turmoil,
I am the one who keeps its foundations firm. Interlude

Interestingly, God doesn’t say the building won’t fall, but that the foundation will remain secure; that is, if the foundation that is Himself is our foundation.  When life shakes us for all we’re worth and more, all that we have dreamed and toiled for may be seemingly destroyed.  Relationships, finances, jobs, homes, dreams for our kids.

Crushed.

Obliterated.

But if the foundation is secure, rebuilding is much easier.

And I love how God included the word interlude in the song.

Here are some of the definitions of “interlude”: break, pause, intermission, and my favorite~~breathing space.

An interlude is not a period; it’s merely a comma.  It’s not something we humans tend to do well after a personal catastrophe.  Interludes are important, however, and take a certain discipline.  Personal inventory questions are asked such as “how can I build better” or “should I build a different kind of structure” or “who can I get to help me build”?  The interlude is also a head and heart space for personal healing and restoration as well.  We do well to use it, and we neglect it our own (and others’) peril.

God specializes in restoration and reconstruction.  But when it comes to that tremulous time in life (and we all have them—this human condition, and all) I need to be primarily concerned with my Foundation.

Psalm 75:3  Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.