Change is Coming
Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; Shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. Isaiah 43:18-19
Change is upon us. Can you feel it? We are entering a new season. Not only is fall in the air, but it sure feels like we are on the precipice of change in this world. Something is coming. Those who trust in the Lord, know what it is.....Thy Kingdom come!
Change is hard. Change is also good. Change brings something new and different. At the front of change, there is a sting. It is hard to let go of the comfort of the familiar to embrace the new. We can't quite see it, nor grab onto the new in the interim of change. It demands that you first let go of the old. There is an in-between moment. A moment when it feels like so much is lost in letting go. This awkward space in-between can last for moments or it can last years. Deep faith and deep trust are required to fully let go and trust for the new.
Genesis 12 is the story of Abram's journey toward change. God promised him that he would be made into a great nation. But, before that could happen, God commands him to move, to leave the old before the new is even in sight.
Now the LORD had said to Abram: "Get out of your country, from your family and from your father's house, to a land that I will show you. I will make you a great nation; I will bless you and make your name great; and you shall be a blessing. Genesis 12:1-2
He was instructed to pack up, leave his father's house and go, but where? He wasn't given instruction about which land would be his in that moment. He had to trust. He had to leave, let go, and fully depend on God for his next steps. What incredible faith. He had no idea what was ahead; only a hope of something because God spoke it to him. He trusted that God would come through, and God did.
Lift your eyes now and look from the place where you are -northward, southward, eastward, and westward; for all the land which you see I give to you and your descendants forever. And I will make your descendants as the dust of the earth; so that if a man could number the dust of the earth, then your descendants also could be numbered. Arise, walk in the land through its length and its width, for I give it to you." Genesis 13: 14-17
We can resist change and park ourselves into stubborn resistance, or we can accept it and let go of the old. God let's us choose. However, often times He will not unfold the new until you move away from the old. He blesses those with radical faith. Those who look up. Notice He told Abram, "Lift your eyes now"
