Mountains Shaken and Hills Removed

Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet My unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord, who has compassion on You. Isaiah 54:10 I have never experienced an earthquake before. I don't think I would care for it at all. I have heard stories of things falling off the walls and shelves, cracks in walls, bricks crumbling, and beds moving while one slumbers before jolted awake by the unnatural movement of just a few minutes. I have seen hills removed- removed by huge bulldozers to make way for a new road or a new subdivision or shopping mall. It seems so sad that something that was naturally there, is pushed away by such a powerful machine in just a short time. All of these events seem very dramatic and tragic. They both require great force and all can happen in such a short time. The landscape or structures can be radically changed or even taken away. Both leave people with a sense of change and insecurity and maybe with the hope of something new and better? I think that life is a lot like those shaken mountains and disappearing hills. I am rolling along, quite comfortable and confident in myself, Happy and fairly content with my life. Sure there are things that I need to change and improve. I may even be trying to do those improvements and changes when out of nowhere my mountain is shaking violently. Things and people that I treasure are threatened to be crushed, shattered, destroyed. Cracks in my foundation are exposed and growing, the very bricks of my reputation, influence and relationships are at risk of crumbling. My bed from which I slumbered is moving and I have no control. I am terrified! The hills of my peaceful, untroubled life are being shoved violently and forcefully way to just a wash of dirt. Oh, the dirt is exposed and not formed up in some nice pretty hill to gaze upon. Again, I am terrified! You see, while I haven't anything to really complain about in life- I have been sooooo blessed! I don't like it when my life is threatened. It exposes the sin of my life that I keep buried. The things that I put on a shelf or covered over with sheet rock and paint. My sins of pride, self-sufficiency, disobedience and not submitting are exposed and laid out. These sins threaten my loved ones as well. It is times like these that I am pushed to my knees in terror and panic, pleading with God for His rescue and help. All the past attempts to do better and make improvements seem pitiful. It doesn't matter how good my intentions were or how diligent I was in pursuing them, they seem too little, too late. I am thrown to the floor, prostrate and humbled before God, pleading for His mercy and compassion. He promises unfailing love and peace for those that seek Him and call upon Him. I know that with all tragedy and difficulties, there can be good that comes from it. That is hope. I have hope that as these mountains shake, rattle and roll and as the hills are moved in my life that I can draw closer to God. That I make the changes that should have been already made a permanent change in my life. I just pray that the damage is limited to just me and not to those I hold dearest in this world. I am encouraged with hope, fortifying with prayer and total humbleness, but still terrified. Find rest, O my soul, in God alone: my hope comes from Him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I will not be shaken. Psalm 62:5-6