One summer Sunday, instead of spending the afternoon celebrating the fact that my husband was home after a week away at seminary, or even taking a nap, we spent it replacing our refrigerator. After having a few days to absorb that adventure, I started thinking about change.
Change often comes at the most inopportune times. It was Sunday afternoon. We already had parts on order for one of the cars for a repair set for this week.
Sometimes there are warning signs. Sometimes not. We knew something was up with the refrigerator when it started freezing the tea. However, the timing of the final slide to failure was a disappointing surprise.
Change is usually a multi-step process, rather than a single event. Fridge dies. Pack everything into coolers. Shop for a new refrigerator. Purchase. Load into truck. Bring home. Unload. Take doors off old fridge. Take doors off new fridge. Take doors off house. Bring old fridge out. New fridge in. Replace all doors. Load old fridge into truck. Unpack coolers and fill new fridge… And those are just the highlights.
Change is rarely easy or smoothly accomplished so it’s no wonder we resist it. Even if God is the one instigating it. Or more honestly, especially if God is behind it.
Change is a key part of our salvation experience, though. We are changed from dead to alive. We are changed from being God’s enemies to being part of His family. Those instantaneous changes open the door for a long process of change called sanctification, setting us apart making us more Christlike. Through this arduous, difficult transformation we are changed from wanting to serve ourselves to wanting to serve Him.
This requires that God intervene in our comfortable lives. Sometimes at what we would call inopportune moments. Sometimes without warning. We will be required to leave the shelter of our lists and plans. And 99 times out of 100 we will resist that change. For example:
Now the Lord had said to Abram: “Get out of your country, from your family and from your father’s house, to a land that I will show you.” Genesis 12:1
When God is nudging us toward change, it may help to consider these questions.
- Does God love me?
- Does He see a bigger picture than I do?
- Is He God (and therefore does He have the right to tell me what to do)?
- Will I obey Him in this?
Still having trouble? Then here’s one more — What if Abram had stayed in Ur?
If I make it sound too easy … be assured, I’ve been there. I quit my job to raise a family. We moved 400 miles from home. Then we moved back twenty years later. Then the pandemic. My oldest just married. I’ve had one graduate college, one currently in and the youngest will be there the next time I blink. Jon’s in a new pastorate … I don’t like change, either, even minor ones like new refrigerators, but through each change, I’m learning how faithful God is, how trustworthy and how dependable He is.
What has God taught you through change?
Lauren says
What really stopped me in my tracks was “What if Abram had stayed in Ur?” That, for me, encompassed everything that change is. It is that terrifying first step that we believe to be inevitable…for other people. And we read that question and with our advantage, we know that his life would not have improved without leaving his familiar world.
So, for me, this was encouraging, this was helpful, especially as I move forward. Abraham’s story is actually really beneficial for me as I see just how important it is to rely on God and trust His judgment. Great post!