Change Can Be Frightening…
Change is a part of life, but it can be frightening. Sometimes, changes in our lives take us away from things that are familiar or comfortable. Sometimes, change brings the promise of better things for the future.
Either way, change is all about the unknown. When faced with change, we can speculate and wonder about how things will be different, or we can worry or even boast about what will happen tomorrow. When change comes, as it always will, it is helpful to have some Biblical advice for dealing with life changes.
Here, then, are four things we do to make change more difficult than it needs to be, and the Biblical advice to go with it.
#1
Longing For The Way Things Used to Be
When things in our lives change, it is a natural temptation to look back and to long for the way things were. Yet, as natural as this is, it’s not the most beneficial way for us to handle change in our lives. Consider this Biblical quote from King Solomon:
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?” For it is not wise to ask such questions.
Ecclesiastes 7:10
Here, Solomon writes that it is not wise to ask why “the good old days” were better than the here and now. To be sure, it’s hard to see and appreciate what God is doing today if our hearts are set on the way things used to be.
The people of Israel certainly struggled with this, especially shortly after they had been delivered from slavery in Egypt. They now found themselves living nomadic lives in the desert, facing brand-new struggles.
Suddenly, the Israelites found themselves facing day after day of life in the desert, with no permanent homes, scarce water, and only God’s daily provision of manna to feed them. In the face of the ordeals that were upon them, they longed for the security they once felt:
In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. 3 The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the LORD’S hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.”
Exodus 16:2-3
In the above passage, the Israelites grumbled about their limited selection of food, but as time went by, their grumbling escalated:
The rabble with them began to crave other food, and again the Israelites started wailing and said, “If only we had meat to eat! 5 We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost–also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”
Numbers 11:4-6
In this passage, Israel’s longing for the food of yesterday brought about grumbling in the present Numbers 11:18-20. Their wishes for yesterday made them ungrateful for the blessings of the present, which in turn brought about suffering, as God would soon send them meat ad-nauseum. Numbers 11:31-34
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“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it —because you have rejected the LORD, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
Numbers 11:18-20
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Now a wind went out from the LORD and drove quail in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. 32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. Then they spread them out all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth and before it could be consumed, the anger of the LORD burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague. 34 Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had craved other food.
Numbers 11:31-34
#2
Imagining That The “Good Old Days” Were Better Than They Actually Were
Of course, as the Israelites fondly remembered their previous variety of food, their candy-coated memories failed to recall that they had been slaves under the brutal oppression of Egypt Exodus 1:8-16.
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Then a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt. 9 “Look,” he said to his people, “the Israelites have become far too numerous for us. 10 Come, we must deal shrewdly with them or they will become even more numerous and, if war breaks out, will join our enemies, fight against us and leave the country.”
11 So they put slave masters over them to oppress them with forced labor, and they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread; so the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites 13 and worked them ruthlessly. 14 They made their lives bitter with harsh labor in brick and mortar and with all kinds of work in the fields; in all their harsh labor the Egyptians worked them ruthlessly.
15 The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, whose names were Shiphrah and Puah, 16 “When you are helping the Hebrew women during childbirth on the delivery stool, if you see that the baby is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, let her live.”
Exodus 1:8-16
They forgot the whips on their backs. They forgot the hard labor as the sun and the dust beat relentlessly upon them. And of course, they forgot about the forced murders of their children.
As humans, we tend to have short memories about some things. The suffering we feel in this moment has a way of seeming more severe than our suffering in the past. And so, we often fool ourselves into believing that our lives were better “back then.”
And yet, God is moving us through this life with a plan and a purpose. And the direction in which He is moving us is forward, bringing us ever closer to the fulfillment of our salvation.
The hour has come for you to wake up from your slumber, because our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed.
Romans 13:11b
#3
Worrying About Tomorrow
Tomorrow can be scary, because it is unknown. I have come to believe that we do not fear what we know. We fear what we do not know. We fear the “what if?” Once the unknown becomes known, as unpleasant as it may be, it ceases to be as scary.
Jesus understands our natural tendency to worry about the unknown, and He spent quite a lot of time talking about it:
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes?
Matthew 6:25
How easy it is, and how natural, to worry about the unknown “what-if’s.” Where will our food, our clothes, and our money come from? That’s why Jesus answered this way:
Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27 Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life ?
28 “And why do you worry about clothes? See how the lilies of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. 29 Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. 30 If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Matthew 6:26-30
As Jesus pointed out, birds of the air and lilies of the field, which are of far less value than His own children, were well provided for. If God provides so well for such small lives, what reason could we have for doubting that He will provide for us, His own children?
And so, Jesus concluded:
So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. 33 But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 34 Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
Matthew 6:31-34
Jesus not only told us not to worry, He told us that God had all of our needs already taken care of. He not only told us not to worry, He told us why we don’t need to worry.
#4
Missing The Joy Of The Moment
The Apostle Paul, while chained in a damp, gloomy prison, became an expert about how to deal with worry and anxiety, and it is maddeningly simple:
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! 5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. 6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
8 Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable–if anything is excellent or praiseworthy–think about such things.
Philippians 4:6-8
As a prisoner, Paul knew that his future was uncertain. His jailers had power over him to feed him or deny him food. They had power to beat him and torture him. They could choose at any moment to execute him.
And yet, Paul knew that God had supreme power over all of that. No matter what happened on this earth in this life, there were things that no one could take away.
No one could take away his standing as a child of God. No one could take away his eternal destiny to live in the presence of his loving Heavenly Father. And no one could take away the joy that came from these truths.
It was this truth which led Paul to rejoice and to focus his mind and heart on thanksgiving.
As a wise person once said, “I don’t know what tomorrow holds, but I know who holds tomorrow.”
And so, armed with that knowledge, leave the cares of tomorrow in the right hands; in the hands of God. With tomorrow securely in His hands, you’re free to live today.
And free to appreciate the simple joy of this moment. A moment in which, for starters, you’re alive. Whatever tomorrow may bring, for right now, you’re okay, and there’s beauty to be found in the moment. Enjoy that.
And seize whatever opportunities this moment may bring for blessing others.
For further study, see our in-depth article about this topic:
