Change

SCRIPTURE:  Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. James 1:17 ESV

THOUGHT: When I was a little girl, I thought change was something that jingled in my father’s pocket. It could have meant a shared soda pop. Well, my definition has changed, no pun intended, and I don’t look forward to it as much as I used to that soda pop.

Change can be good, but it can also be very, very hard. Our lived human experience of change is another way in which we can grow in our worship of the Living God, appreciating how different he is from us. He doesn’t have any variation or shadow due to change. There is no shadow of turning with Thee, said the Thomas Chisholm in  as he penned “Great is Thy Faithfulness” in 1923.

Here’s the thing: when you are the Father of lights, you are above all the shadows. Below you, by your light and by your will, everything changes: clouds roll across, the earth tilts, seasons change, we see a total eclipse of the sun (like some last week) or moon, we have day and night, birth and growth and death, and a thousand other changes.

Change in our lives causes movement, shadows, and even storms. Even good change has consequences. I swear sometimes I’ve felt the earth move under my feet as what seemed solid and unchanging as God started shifting. Maybe that sounds a little dramatic, but it’s true. There’ve been points on my journey where I just knew nothing would ever be the same again. Maybe you know what I mean. It’s given me a new appreciation for God the solid rock.

Scripture has a few things to say about heaven and earth and God’s plans. Among them we hear Jesus quoting Isaiah 34:4, “the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light; the stars will fall from the sky, and the heavenly bodies will be shaken (Matthew 24:29).” Then, he describes his own return. This Jesus whom the writer of Hebrews describes as the same yesterday and today and forever (Hebrews 13:8). Sounds a lot like God, who said, “I the Lord do not change (Malachi 3:6).

Through much change, we’ll be ushered into the kingdom of a God who doesn’t shift and change. He keeps all his promises, even to his own hurt. There, the Father of lights will burn so brightly that there will be no need for sun or moon because “the glory (splendor, radiance) of God has illumined it, and the Lamb is its lamp and light (Rev. 21:23 AMP).”

Sorry today has been so wordy; what I’m really trying to say is be encouraged in the midst of all the changes around you. There is a solid rock we can depend on even when the earth starts shifting beneath our feet and what we thought was solid starts to crumble.

PRAYER: Oh God, you are solid, permanent. Your love and your justice never fade. Your purposes will be accomplished. Help us cope with change gracefully with a foot already in the kingdom that is forever.