When Life Changes

During last year's Presidential campaign, the catchword was "change." Both candidates pledged to bring to our country the change that we needed in order to be a better nation. Regardless of which candidate won, they both would have been correct if for no other reason than that with either's victory they would change the occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Now that President Obama is in office the changes that he initiates will be scrutinized but there is no denying that America is and will change. This has always been the case with any President. This also has always been the case with every person who has ever lived.

Every person and every person's circumstance is and will change. It can be argued that the catchword for life is "change." This can make life exciting, but it can also create anxiety and even discouragement. How do you deal with change? How do you deal with broken relationships, sudden unemployment, tragedy, terminal diagnosis? How do you deal with an upcoming marriage, a job promotion, a substantial pay raise, the birth of your first child? Whether change is perceived as good or bad on the surface, change always involves a loss of something we have been comfortable with in exchange for something unknown to us. This is the cause of fear and discouragement that accompanies change.

The Israelites were facing a major change in their existence as they camped on the eastern side of the Jordan River on the plains of Moab. For the previous 40 years a man named Moses had led them through the wilderness. He talked to God, and God talked to him telling him how to lead the Israelites to a Promised Land flowing with milk and honey that was given to them and their descendants by God. Now on the plains of Moab, on the brink of arriving in the Promised Land, Moses dies. The leader is gone! Who will talk with God now? Who will walk with God now? Who will lead the children the final steps to reach their destination? Change was happening, and I am sure they felt anxious about it and were discouraged about their loss. How did they move on, and can we find a model to follow through their experience about moving on when change comes?

The first step that had to be taken in order to move on through this change in their lives was to identify and acknowledge their current circumstances. In other words, they needed to come to grips with the reality of their situation. God helped them with this when he told Joshua as recorded in Joshua 1:2, "Moses my servant is dead." This was the reality of their situation. They could not hide it. They should not deny it. Whatever change that is happening in your life, call it for what it is. Acknowledge what you are facing. This is the first step in our model for transitioning successfully through change. You cannot move on from what you are going through if you don't acknowledge its existence.

The next step is to get up. Whenever change comes it can knock us off of our feet especially if it is sudden and unexpected. We may experience a time of grieving for whatever it is that we are losing in this season of change. We may be in shock over it. It is during this time when we are down that anxiety and discouragement can gain control over us as shackles binding a prisoner. In order to keep this from happening, we need to get up. This is the next thing that God told Joshua to do. After telling Joshua that Moses was dead, God tells him to get up and get the people ready. This is significant. The message here is that regardless of the changes we are currently facing, God's will and purpose continues and never stops. He is always at work, and He wants us to be a part of that work. We cannot be participants in His work if we stay down when change comes. Let the fact that God is still at work and wants you to be a part of that work be the motivation to get up!

The third step is to cross over. God tells Joshua to get the people ready to cross over the Jordan River. The Jordan River was the final geographical boundary in the way of the Israelites reaching their destination. It was a natural boundary that was not easily crossed when the waters were high. Such was the case for the Israelites, but if they were going to experience the Land of Promise, they had to cross this boundary. There will be boundaries that can impede your progress through change. Some of these are natural boundaries like anger, jealousy, pride, guilt, and absence of communication to name a few. Identify your boundaries and cross over them. The Israelites crossed over their boundary because God went into the boundary ahead of them and cleared a path through it so that not even the feet of the Israelites got wet (Read Joshua chapter 3). In order to cross over your boundaries, pray, committing yourself to move on through this change in your life, and ask God to go before you into the boundary. As you trust Him to do this, He will make a pathway for you to cross over and step into the Land of Promise.

The final step is to walk on. God tells Joshua in Joshua 1:3 that every place that the sole of their feet walked would be their land as a gift from Him and a fulfillment of His promise to their father Abraham. Those same soles that were untouched by the flood boundary of the Jordan River would now be able to stand dry on the promises of God and claim all that He had promised. Christian, God has promised you so much! Have you claimed those promises? The promises are numerous and are available to believers, but you will only experience those that you claim. You will only live in the promises that the soles of your feet walk on. So, walk on!

One final note...God told Joshua three times in Joshua 1:1-9 to be strong and courageous. God knows that change is not easy for us, but He gives us the means to be strong and courageous. God says on three occasions in those same nine verses that He would be with Joshua wherever he went. He also gave Joshua His word, the law, that if followed and obeyed would bring success to Joshua and to the children of Israel. We find strength in His presence and in His word to acknowledge our current situation, get up from anxiety and discouragement, cross over boundaries that impede progress, and walk on, claiming the promises He has given to us.

I don't know about you, but all of this sounds like change you can believe in...for a change!