When “new” feels scary and uncertain

I know you’ve experienced them, too: transitions. Stepping into a new job and leaving the old one. Uprooting your household to relocate. Or just entering a new season in life (anyone else watching their nest emptying rapidly?).

All change brings some degree of ambiguity–even if it’s a change we desire. And frankly, uncertainty can be really hard to bear. Transitions are difficult for most everyone… including the people of the Bible. I think Jacob—a forefather of our faith—dealt with it often. His response in a particular instance is instructive for us. 

The backstory:

Jacob, after years of laboring under Laban, returns to Canaan where he was born. His family continues to grow. His favoritism of one of his sons, Joseph, resulted in Joseph’s being sold into slavery in Egypt by his brothers—who led Jacob to believe Joseph was dead. After years of grief, he learns Joseph is, in fact, alive and is invited to come to Egypt to be reunited with him and to wait out the famine.

The shift:

Jacob packed his bags, and more than sixty family members, to begin the journey to Egypt. On the way, he stopped at Beersheba to make a sacrifice to God—to worship. God tenderly speaks into Jacob’s fears, assuring him that it’s okay to leave Canaan—the land He’d promised Abraham and Isaac—and that He would one day bring him (his progeny) back (Genesis 46:1-7).

What can we take from this? Two things:

• God ordained seasons. Literally when He set the earth on its axis. But also in the transitions we naturally experience over the course of the lifespan. This is what Solomon spoke about as he waxed philosophical in Ecclesiastes (3:1-8). We can’t control these shifts in the conditions of our lives any more than we can reorient the globe. 
• Let’s follow Jacob’s example and dedicate time to worship in seasons of transition and uncertainty. It’s easy to let the stresses of change crowd out our time with God. But we likely need it more. Jacob would have been out-of-his-skin excited to see his presumed-dead son, but paused to worship and talk to God about his uncertainty. We can, too.

We can trust God to meet us, and speak to our fears, when we quiet ourselves before Him. No matter where we live or work or go to school. No matter what new season of life we find ourselves in. No matter what shift is taking place, making us feel like the earth is quaking… He is there.

Whatever else changes, He will not.