What's It Going to Be?

As we begin exploring a new normal, we might be experiencing a few things in common. Change is challenging and it’s normal to sense sadness for what was. Change can also be exciting serving as a catalyst for God’s better future. There have been times I’ve personally felt both simultaneously. Wherever we are be rest assured that God’s faithful hand will guide us as we seek Him. He is our Good Shephard leading us beside still waters.  

Many examples are scattered throughout Scripture of God leading His people through change. That’s a metanarrative easy to miss when one has a penchant toward predictability! Normal is a perception not a reality.  

I was reminded just this morning of a major change documented in Exodus 5. God decided it was time to bring about major change and He tasked Moses with the job. Moses confronted Pharaoh just like God had told him to do and it didn’t go as planned. Pharaoh denied the request and made God’s people pay the price. Don’t you know Moses was feeling the heat! Change is hard and rarely linear.  

What’s great about this story in Exodus 5 is that unlike 40 years earlier, Moses didn’t run off into the desert. He ran to God, confessed his weakness, and God empowered him to stay in the fight. I love how God speaks in such a timely manner through His Word!

I try to judiciously use the word all, but it’s safe to say we’re all experiencing massive change. Change is hard, but it’s also necessary. It can even be God ordained. As we undergo change, there are two options. We either focus our attention on loss or on the new opportunity. It’s human to be sad when we experience change. We shouldn’t deny that but nor should we deny the hope of pressing into the new.