Dealing with Life Changes

Ecclesiastes 12
v.13 Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter: Fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole duty of man.
v.14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, including every hidden thing, whether it is good or evil.

Spiritual change is a constant in the lives of people pressing in to a closer, deeper, richer walk in the Spirit of God. God will not ask more of us than we can give, but He often asks more of us than we want to give. When you find yourself feeling that way, take comfort in the fact that it puts you in good company.

Noah faced greater change than anyone else that we have record of. He entered the ark from a world teeming with people, a culture that he had grown up in, a society that had developed in the generations after Adam, but he and his family emerged from the ark into a world where no other voices were heard. His persistent obedience earned him the description by God of a righteous man, blameless among his people, walking faithfully with God. To Noah was given God's promise to preserve the world safely until the final times.

Abraham was a poster-child for the issue when it came to facing change; everything, from where he lived to what he was called, was changed at God's direction; he believed God,  and acted on his faith, therefore God declared that he was the father of the faithful.

Moses felt reluctant to take the next step at several points in his 120 years, but he did not turn back from obedience to God, and he received the singular honor of having God call him His friend, speak to him directly, and conduct his funeral personally.

David, both before and after he was king, hit some low points from which he did not feel he could continue. At one time or another it seemed most of the important people in his life turned against him and sought to take his life. David's master, Saul, hunted him with his soldiers; David's son, Absalom, pursued him with his men; even God, David's sovereign, had the angelic host poised to bring judgment on Jerusalem because of David's behavior. But David turned back from his mistakes, pressed in, and persisted in submitting himself more and more in obedience to God, from which God declared David to be a man after His own heart.

Jesus, more than any other name that can be listed, was challenged by change. Change of a sort that challenged him more than anyone else. From constant companionship and complete understanding with the Father and the Comforter in eternity, to the growing pains of childhood and adolescence and the social turbulence of Roman-occupied Palestine. How can we adequately compare the communion of equals in heaven between the Trinity and adoration from the angelic host, to isolation and misunderstanding by the small-town innuendo and teasing during childhood? Is it likely that any of us have been subject to temptation specifically by Satan as Jesus was in the wilderness?

2 Corinthians 8:9 For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you through His poverty might become rich.

If you feel more is being handed you on your plate than you have strength to deal with, you are likely right. God assigns us more that we can do so that we will turn to him for understanding, wisdom, knowledge, strength, mercy, grace, love, and more. But the wonderful truth is that He does not give us more than we can handle with His provision. So turn to Him, seek His heart in prayer, soak His word into your mind and heart, thoughts and emotions.

Spiritual change will become spiritual progress. As you look around, you will see with God's eyes beauty and truth where previously you only saw unlovely people who got in your way; knowledge and power where before there seemed to only be pain and trials and frustration, inconvenience and obstacles. With each day's progress and victory behind you, the next day will find you stronger, braver, more loving, filled with more faith. Meaning and purpose in your life becomes clearer, more focused, more achievable as you step out in obedience to God's direction in your life.

Ecclesiastes 11
v.5 As you do not know the path of the wind, or how the body is formed in a mother's womb, so you cannot understand the work of God, the Maker of all things.
v.6 Sow your seed in the morning, and at evening let not your hands be idle, for you do not know which will succeed, whether this or that, or whether both will do equally well.

You can always expect better things ahead because of God's promise to go before you and prepare the way. In the natural, there will be discouragement, setbacks, wars, hatred, greed, pain; but in the spirit, as you grow and progress, changing into the image of God's Son through the result of redemption's work in your life, as a result of the price Jesus paid to make salvation possible, you can be a part of the cure rather than a part of the disease.

Psalms 47
v.7 No man can redeem the life of another or give to God a ransom for him --
v.8 the ransom for a life is costly, no payment is ever enough

Father God, You are the eternally creative and creating God, the Potter with an endless number of designs, the Architect custom-building many mansions. Lord, when we find ourselves overwhelmed and unsettled from a few changes in our lives and circumstances, help us to pause, take a breath, and calmly see that in You is so much more than we can imagine, all of it good, designed and purposed to bring us joy and fellowship, even as You enjoy with Jesus. Help us, dear Lord, to not limit ourselves or You from the exceedingly great goals You have planned for us in this life and into eternity.

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