Struggle to Trust: Times of change

Would it be fair to say that we are always in a time of change? Even in the routine, I find that there is change. Kids start school again every year, but it is a new teacher, new environment, every few years it is a new school. The same, but different. Even at work, it seems like there is a revolving door sometimes, new people on the team, a new initiative or sales point. And now we have what everyone likes to term as the ‘new normal,’ the with-COVID normal. The same, but different. Change is all around us, all the time, yet we struggle so much with it.

He knows

I don’t know what your changing situation is today. Pregnancy, retirement, moving, death or illness all cause changes in our lives, even when we make plans for them. Stepping into a situation and living it is different from planning for it or having it thrown at you. God already knew. He knows that it is not what you expected, or He knows that you are scared about it. None of this is a surprise to Him, for ‘Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will happen,’ as Isaiah 14:24 says. He holds this change in his hands. He’s got this.

He is our anchor

When I considered what God’s response to change was, I realized that he is the Unchanging One. Verses talk about how he is the rock and that he is the anchor. And I realized that, though I have been out on boats and even worked for a company that made ocean drilling rigs (once upon a time), I have no idea about how anchoring works. Why is God our anchor? The anchor is the pivot, the part that digs in and holds. Despite the current, the winds and even the weight of the ship, the anchor is the attachment to the seabed, the firm foundation. The boat still moves, as perhaps we have seen or noticed when watching the water. The anchor stays put, but the boat (us) shifts and moves according to the current and winds. The change and the circumstances around us will push us about, but the anchor holds. The anchor doesn’t let us get dragged away from where we are to be, where God has placed us. ‘We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure,’ according to Hebrews 6:19. Jesus Christ is the anchor of hope that holds us in turbulent and changing times. He is the One who holds us and reminds us of the sureness of the God’s goodness and sovereignty.

The anchor holds

He holds these changes in his hands. He is working it for our good. (If you are not sure, check here.) He is not surprised when things happen to us, when the world seems to be going crazy. He has designed a time and season for everything (Ecclesiastes 3:1). He knows. He knows what tomorrow will bring and He ushers it in for your good. This is the faith, the trust in Him to carry us through it all, and ‘the one who relies on it [the cornerstone] will never be stricken with panic,’ (Isaiah 28:16).

‘How do are we not stricken by panic?’ you may be thinking right now. That is the faith. And when our faith is lacking, we ask Jesus for more, just like the disciples (Luke 17:5). There are four things (at least) we can do to increase our faith, and we will look at them over the next two articles.