How many times have changed in your life? Ten … maybe twelve … hundreds … thousands? … We start of as helpless … cute … cuddly babies … then we change into toddlers … then children … teenagers … young adults … and then we reach adulthood … You get a job … then perhaps you change jobs … you buy a house or rent an apartment … and then you buy a new house … you buy a car … then you buy a new car … all of these changes happen … continuously … happening one after another … and with all of these changes come an array of emotions … some things that change in our lives bring grief … sadness … or perhaps anger … some joy … happiness and elation …
Sometimes … when changes enter our life … it’s overwhelming … confusing … even terrifying … We can go to bed at night to one reality … and wake up to a completely different life … Change can make us feel lost and abandoned … like we’ve been tossed overboard in the midst of a storm … We’re left reeling … trying to grab ahold of anything we can find that’s strong and stable … We’re tempted to run from change … as though we could ever escape it …
Things in our past life have constantly changed … things in our present life continue to change … and things in our future life will change … it’s one of the two things in life that you can count on … things change … continuously … and you may be thinking that the other thing you can count on in life is … as the old saying goes … taxes … but you’d be wrong … The other thing in our life that ultimately will never change is our Almighty Father in heaven …
As we all encounter major changes in our individual lives … and as the world around us continues to change … we need a place to find hope … We need somewhere to stand when we wake up to news that a loved one has passed away … or our job is in jeopardy … or someone we love has a terminal illness … well … the truth is … there is one thing that never changes … one place we can go that always brings hope … comfort … peace … and security … the one thing that stays the same … of course … is our unchanging God.
He is our ever-present help in troubled times … Psalm 46:1 “God is our refuge and strength a very present help in trouble.” … People everywhere seek refuge and strength … This is what undergirded so much idolatry in the ancient world … even among God’s chosen people … and this is what undergirds idolatry in our world today … You may think that you don’t have an idol … or that you never have … but this … my friend … is probably incorrect … Idols come in all shapes and sizes … money … cars … houses … relationships … our identity … our jobs or status … our physical appearance … entertainment … comfort … technology … our influence … and even our family and friends … just to name a few …
We may even idolize being a Christian … perhaps we try to pray like a Christian … or read the same books they read … we go to church every Sunday … because we know it’s what believers do … maybe we try because they have something we feel we lack … but as I saw on a Facebook post recently … “You can’t glue wings on a caterpillar and make it fly like a butterfly. It must change from within.”
It is the same with a Child of God … you can try to walk the walk … and talk the talk … but unless your soul is changed from within … unless you truly believe Jesus is the Son of God … and truly repent … truly accept the indwelling of the Holy Spirit … you can act all day … everyday … and still fall prey to the sin of idolatry …
The Bible speaks a lot about idolatry … In the Garden of Eden … Adam and Eve had God alone as their refuge and strength … They completely and totally depended upon Him even as they fulfilled their responsibility as image-bearers with the delegated authority to make decisions and rule the earth (Gen 1-2) … It was not enough for them … Satan found a way to exploit a desire to be their own god … “knowing good and evil” (Gen 3:5-6) … Their own knowledge and wisdom would be their refuge and strength … It was the thought of this that became more important than God … the very definition of an idol …
But because of His mercy and His compassionate forgiveness … manifested and made possible by Christ on the cross … we can be restored to the faith that trusts only in God … He knows every hair on your head … If you dedicate your life to God … He will protect you and strengthen you for whatever He has in store for you … You are precious to Him … just as you are … but His desire isn’t to leave you just as you are … His desire is to mold you and make you into the person He created you to be … starting from the inside … He’s reaching out for your hand … take it … you’ll never regret it.
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by Joan Paschal
(originally published on 02-20-23)
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