Stirred Not Shaken

In the days of Sean Connery's 007, somewhere in the movie, just a bit past him introducing himself as "Bond - James Bond," he would be at a bar ordering a martini with the instruction, "shaken not stirred."  Well, that line worded well for the imaginary, macho, self-confident British secret agent, but I have a  better tag-line for you and me: "Stirred not shaken."

We live in a world rife with insecurity.  Our security has been shaken by a near-depression followed by the slowest recovery from a recession since WWII.  Terrorists have taken up shop on our soil and strike without warning.  Iran is securing a deal in which it will have access to $150 billion to continue waging war and sponsoring terror while only a pause, at best, in its nuclear ambition.  Russia is flexing it's muscle again and China is building islands in the China Sea, claiming sovereign rights over international waters.  Israel seems poised to strike at Iran's nuclear infrastructure.

Job security is a thing of the past.  Your chances of developing cancer during your lifetime is about 1 in 3.  Our national debt has reached about $18 trillion if you don't count the unfunded liabilities that push us beyond $100 trillion.  Most American have little to no retirement income beyond Social Security, which has been raided and underfunded so long it is doubtful it will be available for many. Our southern border is about as secure as a screen door on a submarine.  Along with the unfortunate Hispanics looking for someway to survive, are violent gang members, convicts and God-only-knows who else.

Feeling shaky yet?  You might and you probably should unless you refuse to place you security in your circumstances.  Your circumstances will change.  You will get stronger or weaker, richer or poorer, healthier or sicker, etc.  Whatever you are experiencing now will not last - change is coming.  If you place your hope, stake your security on circumstance, you will be moved, shaken perhaps to your core.

However, if you do not rely on what you see and feel but instead rest on faith in God, who is not seen, you can be stirred in your spirit to face life unafraid instead of shaken by life to fear.  Knowing that you have the ultimate victory and that "God works all things for the good of them that love him" (Rom 8:28) offers the ultimate security that transcends everything, which time and circumstance puts on your plate.

As promised of God through the prophet Isaiah: "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" (Isa 54:10).  Let us be stirred by God's promises not shaken by the world's circumstances.  Jus' Say'n.