Step into change with the unchanging One
“...For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9
‘Thank You, Lord, that though our seasons change, You remain the same—yesterday, today, and forever.’ — Elizabeth Moore and Audrey Elledge, A Liturgy for New Seasons of Life
After an absolute scorcher of a summer, autumn is finally here.
Which, for many of us, means that change is in the air.
While January gets all the glory as being the official ‘New Year’ month, I still feel like September is the month which actually marks the start of a new year.
As the season changes from summer to autumn, our lives are often changing too.
Maybe you’re heading into a new school year, or about to go to uni, or starting a new job, or moving to a new place, or just feeling ready to get back into normal rhythms of life after the summer.
For me, this September holds one of the biggest changes of my life so far.
In a couple of weeks, my wife and I are moving to Guernsey.
If you don’t know where that is (don’t worry, I'd never heard of it until I met my wife who's from there!), here’s a helpful link.
We’re both feeling a whole whirlwind of emotions as we pack up our things and get ready to say goodbye to Bristol after six years of living here: sadness at leaving behind friends whom we love dearly, excitement for living near family and the sea, uncertainty, gratitude, hope for the future—the whole lot.
But whatever season of transition we might be stepping into—and however we’re feeling about it—we can take heart and know that we’re not on our own.
God is always with us
Throughout the Bible, we see people go through times of immense change, uncertainty, excitement, danger and sorrow, with little to no idea of what God was going to do in their lives.
But even though they couldn’t see, understand or control the future, the One who does was with them.
God was with Abram (Genesis 26:3) when left his native country to go and live in a land he’d never been to, not knowing exactly how God would give him countless descendants in his old age.
He was with Ruth (Ruth 2:12), who followed her mother-in-law Naomi to a foreign land after losing nearly everything, not knowing that God would restore her life and make her an ancestor of His Son Jesus.
And He was with Peter, Andrew, James and John (Matthew 4:22), who left their fishing businesses, families and security to follow Jesus, not knowing that their lives would never be the same again.
The heartbeat that resonates through the pages of Scripture is this: God is always with us.
He knows us completely (Psalm 139:1).
He has written down all the days of our lives (Psalm 139:16).
He goes ahead of us (Deuteronomy 31:6).
He is behind us (Psalm 23:6).
He watches over us (Psalm 121).
He is the rock beneath us (Psalm 18:2).
He lives inside us (Galatians 2:20).
He guides us along the right paths we need to take (Psalm 32:8).
We don’t know what our lives hold—but we can know the One who holds our lives in His hands, and that is more than enough for us.
So, whatever this ‘new year’ and season of change may bring to us, let’s set our eyes on Jesus, who is the same and is with us today, tomorrow and forever.
May we walk in step and in hand with Him into all that He has for us.
Love,
Theo