“For I am the Lord, I change not.” Malachi 3:6

Changes in our lives are difficult.  There has been no time in recent memory that has had so many changes as we have seen  in 2020.  Covid, wildfires, riots, and unrest have all been crammed in a single year.  Now we are on the verge of an election that could further change our lives.  How we handle these changes will say a lot about us. If the changing world around us controls what goes on inside us we may need to look toward the Changeless One for strength. Some people don’t want to accept their need for change. The story is told about a doctor who told a man to give up red meat, so he stopped putting ketchup on his hamburgers.  That is not the way to handle change.

We get used to a certain routine and to suddenly have that altered is not without its accompanying stress.  The world is an ever-changing place that we have little control over.  It is a road full of potholes and obstacles between times of smooth driving.  People say that “The only thing you can predict about the weather in Oregon is that you can’t predict the weather in Oregon.”  Well, that is true about life.  Just when we think we have it figured out, along comes something new- it might not be particularly good or bad, painful or wonderful, or it might be one or all of these things.  What we do know is that it is different.  What we do know is that it is change- and that is something that can be difficult.

In our verse above God tells us that He does not change.  Isn’t that great to know.  In this ever fluctuating play called life, the playwright is unchanging.  The nature of God and His great love for us do not change. John 3:16 says, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him, shall not perish but have everlasting life.”   God loves us.  That does not change.  He willingly made the greatest sacrifice so that our lives would not have to be as up and down as the roller-coaster world we live in.  As unknowable as the world is, God’s love is knowable. The canvas on which our lives are painted is evil, but God owns the paints.  He can cover that evil with a life that is beautiful.

The word tells us, “So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence”   (Hebrews 6:18) .  That word confidence is a nice one to hear in this uncertain world.  God cannot lie.  He loves us and wants to do what is best for us. We can read books on philosophy or self help, but these can’t be read as “gospel” because there is only one gospel.  The
scripture is the only perfectly reliable book that has been written.  If we want to feel confidence in change, we need to read the book authored by the only consistent author the world has ever known.

If we read something like, “For the Lord will not cast off His people, neither will He forsake His inheritance” (Psalm 94:14), we can get excited because amidst change God gives us a never-changing inheritance.  But what good does it do to hear this truth if we don’t know what the inheritance is?  How do we know what the inheritance is?  By searching the Word.  There was a story of a man that who had two little boys.  One little boy who was so pessimistic that he was miserable all the time and the other who was so optimistic that his father felt he was dangerously unrealistic.

The father felt he needed to bring them to some sort of middle ground by teaching them that things are not always good or always bad. He told them he had a surprise for them. For the pessimistic boy, he had filled a room full of toys that he knew would have to make him happy and with the other son he filled the room with manure so that the boy would at least be able to accept the reality that not all things are positive.

After a while the father checked the toy room and the boy was
sitting in the middle of the toys crying.  “There are too many toys here.  I can’t figure out where to start.  Please let me out.”  The father was blown away, but knew that at least his other son will have learned a lesson.

He went into the manure room and was astounded to see his son digging through all the manure. “What are you doing!” he shouted.

His son looked up with a big grin and said, “With all this manure, I know there has to be a pony here somewhere, and I going to find him.”

Optimism is good, but optimism in God is better.  There is value to being realistic and that realism can be based on the unchanging promises of God.   In this time when loyalties are as fragile as crystal and today cannot be used to predict tomorrow, it is wonderful to realize that God has promised to never leave us nor
forsake us.  …“for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” Hebrews 13:5   So let the changes come because He is with us and we do not need to walk in fear because we can walk in faith! We can trust God with all the changes, and know that He is more than able to help us and that He even has plans to bless us.

With God as our anchor, the winds of change need not toss us to and fro.  So often what seems an awful change is remolded by God’s hand to be a change that changes our lives for the better.  Remember, “We know that all things work together for the good of those who love God: those who are called according to His purpose.”  It is God who can take changes and make them into something special.  The way for us to handle change is by leaning on Him Who does not change.  The more we let God control the changes in our lives, the less the changes in our lives will control us.