Moments with my First Love [UNDER REVISION]

MOMENT 16: My Foundation

Have you ever built your life around something you thought would never fail? Nagpursige ka sa pag-aaral para ma-maintain ang magagandang grades. You gave your best to establish the career you've always dreamed of. You invested your time, effort, and heart into a relationship, hoping it would last. Nagpagal ka sa ministry because you genuinely wanted to serve God faithfully. You worked hard to provide for your family. You carefully planned your future, believing everything was finally falling into place.

Then one day...  something happened.

Truthfully, all of us have experienced seasons where life feels like an earthquake. Minsan hindi naman malaking problema ang dahilan. Sometimes it's just the weight of everyday life. Pagod ka na. Nako-confused. Nadi-disappoint or nafru-frustrate. Tahimik ka lang pero ang daming nangyayari sa loob mo.

Then you'll hear yourself saying, "Akala ko si Lord ang foundation ko... bakit parang ang dali ko pa ring matinag?" I asked myself the same question. My foundation is the LORD. But self, why are you still being shaken?

Haggai chapter 2 verses four to eight says, "Yet now be strong, O Zerubbabel, declares the LORD. Be strong, O Joshua, son of Jehozadak, the high priest. Be strong, all you people of the land, declares the LORD. Work, for I am with you, declares the LORD of hosts,

according to the covenant that I made with you when you came out of Egypt. My Spirit remains in your midst. Fear not.

For thus says the LORD of hosts: Yet once more, in a little while, I will shake the heavens and the earth and the sea and the dry land.

And I will shake all nations, so that the treasures of all nations shall come in, and I will fill this house with glory, says the LORD of hosts.

The silver is mine, and the gold is mine, declares the LORD of hosts."

As I was reading this passage, one truth humbled me. The Lord never said that only unbelievers would experience shaking. In fact, He was speaking to His own people. He was reminding them to be strong because He Himself was about to shake the earth.

That's when I realized... The goal isn't to become someone who can never be shaken. Because the truth is, we are all shakable. We don't like admitting that because we want to believe we're stronger than we really are. We tell ourselves we'll be okay, hanggang sa dumating ang sitwasyong tatama mismo sa bagay na pinakamahalaga sa atin. Then we realize how fragile we actually are. God has never hidden that reality from us. In fact, He declared that even the heavens and the earth will be shaken. If creation itself can be shaken, who are we to think we cannot?

Only God remains the same.

Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."

Maybe that's why the Bible keeps repeating the words, "Be strong" and "Do not fear." Hindi dahil natural tayong matapang. Hindi rin dahil magiging madali ang buhay kapag sumunod tayo sa Kanya. God says those words because He already knows there will be days when our own courage will leave us, when our fears will become louder than faith, and when we won't know what to hold onto anymore. Kaya bago Niya sinabi na yayanigin Niya ang lahat, sinabi muna Niya, "My Spirit remains in your midst." Napakagandang assurance no'n! God wasn't promising the absence of shaking, He was promising His presence in the middle of it.

The more I reflected on this passage, the more I realized that God never wastes a season of shaking. Every time He allows something to move, He's revealing something deeper than the situation itself. Hindi Niya 'yon ginagawa para malaman ang laman ng puso natin dahil alam naman na Niya 'yon kahit bago pa tayo ipanganak. Ginagawa Niya 'yon para tayo mismo ang makakita ng mga bagay na matagal nang nakaupo sa trono ng puso natin nang hindi natin namamalayan.