Change

Not change as in coins you receive back from a store purchase which you paid for in cash. This change deals with what we might perceive as lack of stability in our lives. Something that stretches us, aids or prods us to be flexible, or moves us along to the next stage of where we need to be, painful though the process may be.

I’m guessing that the majority of us don’t like change. Oh, we might think life needs something different because we get bored easily. But actually, most of us don’t care for major upheavals in our day to day existence. Just as a rubber band loses its flexibility and stretchiness if it lies in a drawer for years, so will our mind and soul sort of atrophy like an unused muscle if we don’t stretch them. And Who better to stretch us than our Creator, Himself.

God gets us to the next level of spiritual maturity, compassion, etc. by some sort of change, be it in our physical bodies, our circumstances, or our family situations. Many times the process may seem painful as He hoists us up, kicking and screaming perhaps, but there is always that promise to cling to (among many such) in Jeremiah 29:11 where He says, “I know the plans I have for you and I promise you they are good ones, full of hope for your future"--Pat’s paraphrase.

The great thing about change is that we are never alone in it because Jesus tells us repeatedly, “I am with you.”  “Don’t be afraid.”  Remember the storm-calming incident with He and His disciples on the Sea of Galilee? He is still in the storm-calming business in the 21^st century whether we are on water or dry land.

A statement I read in Jesus Calling recently was almost like being hit between the eyes with a two by four. That day’s reading started with these words: “Understanding will never bring you peace.” Now that’s pretty hard to swallow in this world of rational thinking and scientific research. Not for nothing does the Scripture tell us “not to trust in our own understanding.” But thinking about that statement brings a believer in God around to the fact that the never-failing path to peace is trusting God—for everything. And that includes change.

In a world of change, both circumstantially and personally, there is this awesome, absolute constant—Jesus never changes. He tells us He…”is the same yesterday, today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8). That’s like attaching oneself to bedrock and it’s good enough for me!

Walnut trees

As I was reading/revising a “Judge Deborah” portion of my book, I had her husband looking for a piece of walnut for some intricate wooden beads he had designed. I realized getting hold of a slab of walnut might have been impossible in Israel around 1250BC so needed to verify the possibility.

I don’t ever remember reading about walnut trees being mentioned in the Bible so I “Googled” the subject. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that although these trees were not mentioned in the same way oaks, sycamores, fig or olive trees were, the walnut tree and better yet, the nut itself has a nifty spiritual analogy.

According to the Midrash, Song of Songs Rabba, the people of Israel are compared to a pile of walnuts—when one is moved or disturbed the entire pile is affected. (Can you tell this is a Jewish website?) This is reminiscent of Paul’s letter to the Corinthians where  in 1 Corinthians 12:12-20 he teaches about the physical unity of the body and how that illustrates the spiritual unity of the Body of Christ and the gifts of the Holy Spirit.  

Just as a walnut that is removed from a pile disturbs the cohesiveness of its pile, so are our physical bodies disturbed if one part doesn’t work well, or our spiritual unity is disturbed because a gifted part of the body is not present for somereason.

And the analogies continue. The roots of other trees need to remain covered with soil but the walnut tree roots need to be exposed because the trees are highly susceptible to fungus-borne diseases which are guarded against by ensuring that the roots are exposed to air. Compare our confession of sin and returning to God as baring the roots of our lives. After all, God knows when and how we sin, so why try to hide it. In addition, He is always willing to forgive that confessed sin (see      I John 1:9).  

 There were additional comparison to the walnut tree and the life of a God-follower, but these will suffice. Who knew what I would discover when I merely researched the possibility of a Bronze Age artisan being able to obtain a slab of walnut for his work?