The Unshakeable Kingdom

Where can we find peace when our world is unraveling?

It was July of 1993. I was pregnant with our first child, getting large and bored as I inched toward my third trimester. Yet while I was worried about what was going on inside me, many others were worried about what was going on around me. 

In the Midwestern United States, along the Mississippi and Missouri rivers and their tributaries, what would be known as the Great Flood of 1993 was beginning to show its face. Land across the area saturated by June, with additional rainfall running off into streams and rivers, rather than soaking into the ground. 

Meanwhile, I was on bed rest and getting quite antsy. By mid-July, I begged my husband to show me the damage. We hopped in the car, got on I-70 (which was still open at this point), and headed toward Boonville. We found a place to park and walked along the Boonville Bridge, sweating as we inspected the roaring waters and demolished structures. 

A few days later, the bridge was no longer crossable, and my baby was no longer safe in my womb – and his due date was still more than six weeks away. Nature was not cooperating in so many ways!

To say my life felt unsettled would be an understatement. My life was thrown into chaos and confusion. I had no control over what was happening. My world was shaken. 

Most of us can remember feeling similar. Whether it was a natural disaster, a personal matter, or a political one, our kingdoms have been shaken. A tornado, a divorce, the onset of war, can turn our worlds upside down. We all know where we were and what we were feeling on 9/11. 

And today is no exception. Depending on your political views and what you wanted to happen or not happen in this election, your life may feel like it is unraveling. 

Where can we find peace when our world is shaken? 

My life has found its footing, its grounding, since metabolizing this quote from author and spiritual director James Bryan Smith. He writes: 

“You are one in whom Christ delights and dwells. You live in the strong and unshakeable Kingdom of God. His Kingdom is not in trouble, and neither are you.” 

Really?! No matter what, God delights in me. I am His. I am adopted into His royal family. His kingdom is not in trouble, so why am I worried? 

This quote comes from Hebrews 12:28. 

“Do you see what we’ve got? An unshakable kingdom! And do you see how thankful we must be? Not only thankful, but brimming with worship, deeply reverent before God.”  

What if we change our perspective? 

What if we took our feelings or anxiety, restlessness, and confusion and turned them to gratitude? What if we took our anger and dread and reframed it as worship to our God? 

What would it really look like to live in the truth that God’s Kingdom is unshakeable? That God is in Heaven, looking deep in your eyes, and saying, “Don’t worry, I’ve got this.” 

Isaiah 41:10 reminds us:

“Don’t be afraid, for I am with you. Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you. I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.” 

He’s got this.  

Beth Bramstedt is the Church Life Pastor at Christian Fellowship.