East Coast Earthquake: A Minor Shakeup with a Divine Message?

About 1:50 p.m. yesterday, I felt and heard a tremor run through the floor and walls of our house.  At first I thought it was someone walking heavily on our less-than-rock-solid floor joists.  Then, a few seconds later, I felt it again, this time longer and more intense.  After a few more seconds passed, there was an unmistakeable and more powerful shaking which made me realize that, here in sleepy central Pennsylvania, we were indeed playing host to an uninvited natural guest.

As news of the East Coast Earthquake of 2011 spread yesterday, as friends, relatives and co-workers jammed the cell phone networks, it became obvious, to everyone's relief, that this seismic event, though widespread, was relatively mild as earthquakes go.  Still, it gave news commentators something to talk about for a while, though by last evening they - and talk show hosts as well - were making jokes about it.   But for those who have never experienced the heaving of the earth beneath their feet, it was a pretty scary experience.  California folks are used to such things; here on the East Coast, not so much.

But today, the trains and planes, delayed yesterday for safety checks, are back on schedule, and most East-Coasters have moved on with their lives.  Yet, upon closer examination, it is clear that there was indeed some residual damage, even in our nation's capital, where things are supposedly built to withstand such events.  I find it curious that there was, through this relatively mild movement of tectonic plates, significant damage to two of our most treasured national symbols:  the Washington Monument and the National Cathedral.  And I am left wondering if God, who claims sovereign control over all creation, might have been sending us a message.  If so, what message would it be that He is conveying, and was there a reason He might have put His divine crosshairs on these two symbols of things which, in our past, have always been best about America?

As a student of history, I believe I am on safe ground in saying that America has always stood for freedom.  And who epitomizes our national struggle for independence more than our "founding father," for whom the 555-foot obelisk on the National Mall is named?  And what place - at least in concept - more eloquently communicates by its very existence our national declaration that our freedom is both limited under the authority of our Divine Creator and Judge, and that it is also a gift from His hand, upon Whom we depend for our past, present and future success as a witness to the world of the benefits of that freedom? 

Yet, lately we seem to be increasingly content to go our own way, even trivializing the essentiality of religious faith in general, and of our Christian heritage in particular.  The public mention of Jesus is out of vogue, and people who would hold to biblical principles are increasingly labeled as "haters."  The historic and God-ordained nature of one-man, one-woman marriages is routinely challenged, and God's notion of "family" has been so distorted in our national psyche as to allow that virtually "anything goes" in domestic arrangements.  We have devalued human life - the centerpiece of His creation - to the extent that as of this posting, the blood of nearly 50 million helpless, unborn human beings is on our collective, if not individual, hands, even as we spend millions in precious dollars to preserve various animal species from encroachment.  It seems clear that not only have we failed to "love the Lord our God with all our hearts, with all our minds, with all our souls, and with all our strength," but we have outright ignored - if not mocked - His prescription for living in community, and forgotten His just place in the founding and sustaining of this great nation.

If we are to put any confidence in the Bible as the expression of God's intentions for humankind, the Almighty cannot be pleased with all this.  So when the earth shakes the East Coast a little, and our national symbols corrupted as a consequence, I can't help but wonder if perhaps our Sovereign is rather gently but firmly reminding us that we are not self-sufficient, that His laws are not to be ignored, nor His people oppressed, lest He shake us more violently, or even reduce us once again to servitude and humiliation.  He has done it to nations in the past.  Yesterday He made it clear that He can do it at will.

Just some musings this morning.  I welcome your thoughts.

Kiss the Rod?

"The Lord is close to the brokenhearted;
He rescues those whose spirits are crushed."
 Ps. 34:18

It occurs to me that those moments when we grieve the most are propitious moments, because in those times of pain, God in His great care moves toward us in ways most personal and intimate.  So there is in our grief great opportunity to experience the Lord in ways we cannot in times of earthly comfort.  We have only to look to Him and pour out the contents of our broken hearts, and He will fly to our aid.

The previous verse says:
"The Lord hears his people when they call to him for help.
He rescues them from all their troubles."

Though He wound us, yet He as quickly comforts, like a father who lovingly disciplines his child.  Hebrews 12:10 says that "he disciplines us" with this in mind, "that we may share his [very] holiness".

In earlier times, after being disciplined by the schoolmaster, children were required to "kiss the rod" in order, through discipline, to learn appreciation for even the harsher aspects of instruction.  Though outward conformity does not guarantee inward submission, the hope was that wills would be broken and hearts surrendered.

Moving toward the comfort of an afflicting heavenly Father might be something like that - an act of faith which brings the reward of greater intimacy with the One who only desires our very best.