Have you ever felt frustrated that God never changes? Like He’s outdated and ancient, while you attempt to be progressive and in-style?
When I was younger, I often felt the weight of being outdated, even archaic in the values that my family held. They were so old-fashioned, simply not current or in-vogue! I wanted a faith that was hip, exciting and could keep up with these ever-changing times!! I didn’t want a God who was the ‘same yesterday, today and forever!” How boring, I thought! But how wrong could I be!
Let me use the laws of nature to maybe throw a different light on this issue.
Have you ever considered what life would be like in an environment where gravity chooses at will whether to operate or not? Just imagine!! You begin your day by pouring your morning coffee, then suddenly discover you don’t capture any of it gravity switches itself off and you, the coffee and the mug float skywards! It would be impossible to operate, plan or exist in such conditions!
Thankfully, there are scientific laws in place, like gravity, that stay the same and can be trusted! And the God who designed them is even more consistent and dependable than that!! But in my youthful immaturity, I clearly didn't appreciate this characteristic of God.
As I have grown older (or as I prefer to say, grown wiser), I have gained a certain understanding of our times and context, and gained a deeper perspective. You see, it is well and good to want a God who changes, when your context is peaceful and dependable. But what if it’s not!
Perhaps my desire for an ever-changing God was more a symptom of my first-world comfort and excess than it was accurate assessment of what was best! Would I desire this if I was a fourteen-year-old girl running for my life in Nigeria from terrorist tribes? Or in a high-rise building in Ukraine wondering if the next Russian air-strike would be the last moment I saw? Or would I desire this on the last day of Western assistance in Afghanistan as I run to board the last flights out of the country before Sharia Law was enforced? I don’t think I would want an ever-changing God under those circumstances.
I would want One who is rock-solid dependable, certain and ever sure! One you does not change like shifting shadows but is completely trustworthy and the same, yesterday, today and forever! The Alpha and Omega is the God I would want to know – and today, I am so grateful that He doesn’t change, even if we think He should, because if He did, He would be less than perfection, and I’m so glad He is not. Maybe one day, we will discover that God simply wasn't outdated after all, but rather incomparably outlasting! Today, why don't we remind ourselves to rest on the Rock of our Salvation, for all other ground truly is, sinking sand.
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