This fall my son, Andrew, is playing travel baseball with 13-15 year olds on a full baseball diamond (90 foot base paths and 60’ 6” pitching mounds). This last week he played his first game and it was a shock. The change in field size was drastic for him and will take some time to get use to.
Change is a constant, and nothing stays the same except God – “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). God has revealed that you need a constant faith in His unchanging character so that we can successfully navigate the changes of life. So let’s look at how knowing God helps you navigate change.
Kurt Lewin, back in the 1940s, gave a simple but helpful change model. He said, “If you have a large cube of ice, but realize that what you want is a cone of ice, what do you do? First you must melt the ice to make it amenable to change (unfreeze). Then you must mold the iced water into the shape you want (change). Finally, you must solidify the new shape (refreeze).” This I believe is a great way to look How God leads us in times of change.
We all know that God works change in our lives in stages.
First, He unfreezes our current situation to make us amenable to change. God did this when he led his people out of Egypt by the means of the plagues In Exodus 7-12. This unfreezing occurred when “1the Lord said to Moses, “See, I have made you like God to Pharaoh, … 2You shall speak all that I command you, and your brother Aaron shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land. 3But I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,” (Exodus 7:1–3).
Secondly, God liberated the national of Israel after the 10th plague when “the LORD struck down all the first born in the land of Egypt” (Exodus 12:29). God caused this change according to his sovereign will, and His people trusted him through it.
Finally, God refreezes the liberty of Israel so that would not go back into slavery by instituting the Passover celebration as a remembrance (see Exodus 12:43-41).
God is always changing things. Isaiah says, “Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:19). Do you see the activity of God in your changing life?