SOMETHING TO BUILD ON

Socrates once said, “The secret to change is to focus all your energy, not on fighting the old but on building the new”.   I guess the real bottom line is that change is difficult.  Even when the eventuality of change is considered to be a good outcome, still we hesitate, still we waver in moving into the uncertainty of that unknown chasm of “what if’s”.  We as humans desire stability, consistency, and significance.  Our jobs change, our minds change, our families change, WE change. It is called life. We would like to believe that there are things that we can count on.  We would like to think there are people or things in our life on which we can depend.  We lose family members to the inevitable, friends that promised to always be there are not, healthy bodies betray us and are weakened by age and time, jobs that were supposed to last end and so it goes.

The children of Israel went through numerous changes and challenges as they wondered in that barren desert for some 40 odd years.  Moses, their leader, their commander-in-chief, the one that had been there through all of their hard times, the one they depended on for everything, dies before they reached the land of promise. Their surroundings and homes changed on a regular basis as they picked up and moved continuously through dangerous and uncertain times. Change seemed to be the only thing that was certain as they moved through their desert place, toward a promise that had not yet been realized.

So what is that one constant?  What is that one unchanging factor that keeps us steadfast, unmovable and unshaken by the changes of life?   Where is that solid ground of refuge that is able to keep us from falling?

According to the word of God in Malachi 3:6(KJV), we are assured, “I am the Lord, I change not; “.  The promise in those words alone gives me comfort.  The comfort that no matter what happens, he is constant.  His promises are true, his word is true and his love is true.  These are the things we can count on with uncompromised certainty.   He promises us hope and a future. His promise, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” Psalm 27:5 (KJV) is the blessed assurance that He is “a refuge in times of trouble.”

For in the time of trouble he shall hide me in his pavilion: in the secret of his tabernacle shall he hide me; he shall set me up upon a rock.

The very same promises he made to Abraham in the beginning Genesis 28:15 (KJV)  ^“And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of” , are the promise passed on to the seed of Abraham and I claim it as my inheritance.

The one constant that I shall stand on is the word of God, for he has declared, ^“Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen”.

Too much change in your life?  Do you need something constant and unyielding to hold on to?  Hold to God’s unchanging hand.

If your old way of life is not working for you; “don’t fight the old but build” on a new life in Christ Jesus.Let him handle all of your “what if’s”.

 

Father, we pray that those seeking peace, stability and hope for a future might find you and your peace that surpasses all understanding. May they find the solid rock of your never changing presence to build upon.