Change You Can REALLY Believe In

"I am the Lord, I do not change." Thus declares God in Malachi 3:6. I am so thankful for that. God does not wear out, fade, evaporate, unravel, crack, dry out or up, grow weary, change the rules, remodel, etc. He is FAITHFUL. We can always count on Him to be the same, act the same, love the same, forgive the same. Indeed, HE never changes.

But have you ever noticed that everything that comes in contact with Him DOES change? The earth was empty, a formless mass cloaked in darkness. Then God changed things. And what a splendid creation of which we are part – the crown even! God's people were in bondage, living in Egyptian servitude, but God changed that and gave them a land to call their own – which they still do to this day. I was a sinner, in bondage to sin, hopeless and helpless. But God showed up and changed all that. Now, there is no condemnation for me because I have life in Jesus Christ. Yes, God met me where I was, but praise Him, He did not leave me there. I am being transformed day by day; I am a work in progress.

That being the case for all of us . . . why do we resist change so passionately? Why do we want things to stay the way they were 20 years ago? Can we not see that change is not optional, it is INEVITABLE? You don't believe me? Get out some old photos of yourself, and look at them while you are standing in front of a mirror.

So what is it about change? Is it the fear of the unknown? If that is the case, we need to confess our sin of unbelief. We may not know what the future holds, but we certainly know Who holds the future. Do we not believe that? Do we not trust God? Do we not believe that our Father of lights who never fades or casts shifting shadows will give us every good thing?

Or is our resistance to change about control? Are we afraid we will not like the changes that God will make? Then we need to confess our sin of pride and rebellion. When we made Him Lord of our lives, we signed over every right to Him to make us what He wants us to be. But think about it, who knows better what to do with us than the One who created us? If we make Him the delight of our lives, He will cause our heart to desire what He wants for us, and the changes will be more than agreeable, they will be a tremendous blessing to us.

There could be a plethora of other determining factors for our resistance to change. But the fact remains that our Unchanging God is all about Change. We cannot encounter Him and remain the same. Jacob couldn't. Moses couldn't. The woman at the well couldn't. And neither could I. Change is good when that change is brought about by our growth in the grace of, knowledge of, and life experience with Jesus Christ.

Change is like a train coming down the track. We can either get on and ride, step aside and let it pass us by, or foolishly stand in its way and find our attempt to stop it only gets us smashed. So, what should be my response to change? Expect it, embrace it, ask God to bring about His change, and trust that every good gift and every perfect gift comes from Him.

Change my heart, Oh God! Now THAT is change I can REALLY believe in.