When things change…but maybe you don’t want them to

Change is hard.

Even when it’s good, it can be difficult to let go of what we’ve known and planned for.

But sometimes it’s necessary. 

Sometimes we don’t even know why it’s necessary.

If we know (even through circumstances) that God has called us onward to a new thing, a new season, a new place, how do we cope with that change?

I listened to a sermon on abiding recently, focusing on John 15, and noted how the branch can’t thrive (or even live) if it’s separated from the Vine.

And I wondered whether every time I dig my heels in, resisting change, I might be untethering myself from the Vine.

I find the Israelites’ wanderings are a poignant picture of following God’s leadings and “remaining” in Him.

They left Egypt, were chased all the way to the Red Sea and then, for forty years, lived their collective life in the wilderness.

When the Cloud moved, they moved.

When the Pillar of Fire lingered, they stayed. 

I’m sure there were times when they were ready to leave before they got marching orders. And I’m equally confident that there were times when they liked their digs and were reluctant to move on when it was time to pull up stakes. (Heck, they were only wandering in the wilderness because they were too afraid to move into the Promised Land!)

What if they’d left without Him? Or stayed behind when the Cloud moved? They would have forgone His guidance, unable to see the Cloud or Fire from far away. So many of us long for the clear instruction of a burning bush. (Though perhaps we shouldn’t; that clarity came with a life-altering calling! Ha!)

What I’ve come to know is that only by remaining — in Him and with Him — will we know His guidance, His wisdom, His comfort.

In other words, we will best cope with change by staying near to God.

Whether you lost the job you loved…

Or youth has begun to fade from your face…

Or the job you finally found is forcing you to relocate…

Or your marriage ended…

Or your child ventured off to kindergarten…

Or your newly-minted adult kids have left the nest… Or they came back...

Whatever ground is shifting under your feet in a strange new way…

Let the Vine hold on to you.

It’s what vines do. The branches don’t hold on to the Vine. It’s the other way around.

In the season of change you’re facing, rest in the knowledge that He will hold you and sustain you.

You need only be still.