In the midst of this horrific virus, many are wondering where God is and why He is allowing this to happen. Just before it hit our shores, I wrote something in my prayer journal that I reread the other day. “The Shaking Has Begun.” At the time I was thinking about our secular society and about the American Church that has adopted the world’s culture instead of God’s. I looked up SHAKINGS in the Bible to help me understand what it all might mean.

AND THEN THE VIRUS HIT THE USA!

The answer to the question—Why is God allowing this virus to happen—is not a simple easy answer. God often works on multiple levels and addresses different people through the same crisis or problem.

Let’s consider the reasons for the SHAKINGS of God in the Bible:

1. Judgement—God does judge evil in the world with the intent of turning people back to Himself. (Haggai 2:6, 21; Isaiah 13:13; Ezekiel 7; Luke 21:26; Revelations 6:13). Some of these scriptures refer to the end times, which I don’t think this is because there are prophecies that have yet to be fulfilled regarding the end times.
2. Discipline—God disciplines His own—Israel in the Old Testament and His Church in the New Testament to get us to turn back to Him. This is a WAKE UP CALL TO CHRISTIANS AND THE CHURCH (Amos 9:9; Acts 17:11; Hebrews 12:5).
3. To Grant His People Power—Interesting that at Pentecost it says there was a mighty, forceful wind that no doubt shook everything! The Church today needs a powerful Shaking of the Holy Spirit to become what it was called to be in this world. (Acts 2; Haggai 2:7)
4. Deliverance from bondage—When Peter was in jail, it says the foundation of the prison was shaken, his chains fell off and prison doors opened allowing him to escape. (Acts 16:26). SHAKINGS are sometimes God’s deliverance.

So I believe God works on many levels and it’s up to us to ask Him what He is working in our lives through this SHAKING. We need prayer more than ever for our country to turn back to God, for the Church to be purified and separated from the world’s culture; for individual Christians and the Church to receive power from the Holy Spirit and for us to be set free from any prisons of the enemy.