Some days, words come slowly. To be honest, my relationship with the written word isn’t always amiable. I’ve had seasons of writing because I wanted to and seasons of writing because I had to write (like for school) and seasons of writing where I start out of discipline and hope that inspiration meets me halfway. Words aren’t coming easily today. But I had one moment where two words came together in surprising way.
I was thinking about Hebrews 12:27, which talks about the shaking of everything that can be shaken. Sometimes when I feel stuck (in my work, in writing, in this city) I need a sort of shaking – something to stir inspiration and creativity. I’m not sure if it’s done that, but the current pandemic certainly has shaken our lives.
The word “shaken” is also used in Luke 6:38 where Jesus is talking about repaid generosity – “pressed down, shaken together…” in this sense, the picture isn’t something being shaken out of its place, but something being shaken into its place. It’s a sort of settling down. I’ve asked the Lord many times in the last few months to help me settle into the life that He has for me here. I need to be shaken up and shaken down.
Then I started thinking about the word “dwell” and all the places it occurs in the Psalms. What is that word, I wonder? I opened a new tab in my browser to find the word in the interlinear Hebrew Bible and had to blink a couple of times, because the word at the top of the page was:
shaken
For a few seconds I thought I was on the wrong page. I glanced at the definition: “To settle down…” I had to laugh. It wasn’t the English word “shaken,” it was the Hebrew word transliterated shaken. It’s translated as “dwell,” “live,” “stay,” “abide,” “rest,” or “settle.” Yes, that’s what I need. To shaken in the courts of the Lord.
I’m sure, like me, you have experienced shaking in this season. Plans changed, disappointments, loss, and grief remind us that so much of our lives are not in our control. But I hope that as much as we are being “shaken up” by this experience, we can also experience a “shaking down” of our hearts into His presence – a renewed sense of shaken (dwelling) in the house of the Lord. “How blessed is the one whom You choose and bring near to You to dwell in Your courts. We will be satisfied with the goodness of Your house, Your holy temple” (Ps 65:4).