Shaken

Shaken.  It’s what I do whenever I have any type of iced beverage in my hand.  Maybe I’m the only one, but it is a habit I developed decades ago.  Then I perfected it while working 10-hour days on my feet with the only thing getting me through was how many iced lattes I was able to consume.  It is such a mindless activity I usually  don’t realize when I’m doing it. 
 
Psalm 55:22 popped up on my phone today, and as I read it, holding my “Pause” reusable cup I received at a women’s retreat (shout-out Bonclarken!), I realized that I was doing just that – shaking my coke with ice.  It was making this clinky sound, well duh.  It’s ice.  But my point is, I thought about things being “shaken” and the “pause” that it takes sometimes to realize it is happening. 
 
“Cast your burden on the Lord, and He will support you; He will never allow the righteous to be shaken.” (Ps. 55:22)
 
Sometimes it takes the  type of “pause” that is encouraged repeatedly in the whole of Psalm 55 to consider the weight of the meaning.  (It’s in a lot of other Psalms too.)  But the word is “Selah”.  It is of Hebrew origin and interpretations vary from “pause and think” to “forever” as in declaration, praise, or promise.  That being said, I had a pastor years ago explain it with this simple phrase- “meditate on it”.  He used to say it with this super funny inflection, and now whenever I see the word, I hear his voice in my head, funnily saying, “meditate on it”! 
 
There is a great song, the kind that will bring you to tears, that Brian Johnson sings called “We Will Not be Shaken”.  I love it, especially singing it in worship at church, collectively with my brothers and sisters.   
 
https://youtu.be/3KHPIZOdrjI
 
 
However, today it hit me (only when I paused!) that I may have misconstrued the song… in reference to the verse that it embodies.  You see, I was focused on the being shaken part.  Like it was a call for me to not allow myself to be “shaken”.  Because the Lord is in my corner.  But when you read it in context, the action I am responsible for is to cast my burden on the Lord.  Like a metaphorical coat that I take off of myself and hang on the arms of my God.  This requires me not only “shedding” myself, but coming to God, arms outstretched saying, “thank you for taking this and now I don’t have to wear it anymore.” 
The following opposite insinuation must be, that if I don’t take off my burden and give it to God, I in turn, will probably be shaken.  Or at least sweaty for wearing a coat when I shouldn’t. 
 
The other thing that struck me about my silly little moment in my kitchen this morning, was that if I don’t pay attention, or Selah, and think about the present moment and what it means, I might not even notice the clinky sound I am making.  What a thought – here I go in life talking about bringing glory to the Lord, all while clinking and clanging like a vehicle about to break down.  What a joke that projects.  Not to say that if you are doing things right that you would be immune to struggle.  That’s just not biblical.  Instead though, when we have cares, struggles, hardships, or even distractions, we are to present them to God.   Like a heavy coat, that you don’t want to wear for a single minute more.  You are inside (as in- His family!).
 
God gives a promise; He will never let the righteous be shaken.  But that requires us to have the “right relationship with him” which includes casting our burdens and letting Him be our strength.