Times of Change
Well the last couple of days evidence of fast approaching change have surfaced. Things are being cleaned, reorganized, assembled, etc… all in preparation for a pending arrival. It is starting to make the whole process a little more real for Daddy. It is kind of strange how that I have known for nine months we were having a baby, but only in the last couple of days has the gravity and anticipation of her arrival finally started setting in.
This past year and half has been one of much change around the Mathis household. We became pregnant with our first child, we miscarried, Courtney quit teaching, we followed God into full-time ministry, became pregnant with our second child, moved to a new town/state, started serving at a new church, and now are eagerly anticipating our first birth and second child.
Change is offensive, frightening, and exciting all at the same time. In fact change might be the most complex experience we face as humans. It is complex for us due to our lack of sovereignty. See God doesn’t have this problem because a) He doesn’t change (Heb. 13:8, Malachi 3:6), and b) he is omniscient (Psalm 147:4-5, Isaiah 46:10) making all change outside of himself a foreknown conclusion and therefore not complex.
Still God understands change because He understands all things and Jesus experienced much change during His time on earth. Not only does He understand it, but in His Word he declares the necessity and inevitability of change.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
There is an appointed time for everything. And there is a time for every event under heaven–
A time to give birth and a time to die;
A time to plant and a time to uproot what is planted.
AÂ time to kill and a time to heal;
A time to tear down and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn and a time to dance.
A time to throw stones and a time to gather stones;
A time to embrace and a time to shun embracing.
A time to search and a time to give up as lost;
A time to keep and a time to throw away.
A time to tear apart and a time to sew together;
A time to be silent and a time to speak.
A time to love and a time to hate;
A time for war and a time for peace.
The encouraging thing about that is that no matter how much this change, or any other change for that matter, catches me off guard I know that it never caught God off guard. No God knew it was coming the whole time and that is reassuring because I know that if I trust Him with my whole life He will take care of me and my family and it will all come together for His glory and my good.
Jeremiah 29:11-13
For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the LORD, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me, and I will listen to you. You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart.
Did you catch that last part? “Then you will call upon Me and come and pray to Me….” I think that is why God doesn’t allow us to be sovereign, and why He places change in our lives. Because when everything is going along just fine and dandy I tend to get self-sufficient and forget about my Savior. However, in times of change I seek Him. I call upon Him and pray to Him, and thanks be to God that He allows me to find Him again.
So we face this change and look to the future for His Promise of Hope knowing it will all be for His glory and our good.
–Wholly Surrender!