Sunday: Unprepared
There is one thing about the Word of God: it does not gloss over the realities of human life. On the contrary, it exposes them in all their harshness and, at times, sheer pain and despair. In fact, with the exception of the first few pages of the Bible and the last few at the end, the Word of God paints a sorry picture of the human race. Paul was not exaggerating when he wrote: “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23, NKJV).
Read 1 Corinthians 10:1-13. What warnings are there, as well as what promises?
Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com
In many ways, many of our actions in life are simply how we react to change. We constantly face changes; the challenge for us, as Christians, is to deal with them by faith, trusting in God and revealing that faith through obedience, regardless of temptations to do otherwise.
“The greatest want of the world is the want of men—men who will not be bought or sold, men who in their inmost souls are true and honest, men who do not fear to call sin by its right name, men whose conscience is as true to duty as the needle to the pole, men who will stand for the right though the heavens fall”. – Ellen G. White, Education, p. 57.
Those words were as true for ancient Israel as they were in Ellen G. White’s time, and as they are for us now.
What mistakes did the people in the following texts make in the face of change, and what can we learn from their mistakes?
Changes come, and they often bring temptations, challenges, and even, at times, fear. Thus, how crucial it is that we have the spiritual armor on to deal with them in the right manner. Again, regardless of whether the changes are unexpected or whether they are just the typical part of life, we need to be prepared for what’s coming, both the seen and the unseen.
(40)
One of the expressions that you will often hear in Australia is, “She’ll be right, mate!” It reflects an attitude that whether you prepare or not it will all work out in the end! Maybe it does but sometimes the cost is high.
A couple of years ago Carmel and I drove our Troopy (Toyota 4WD) to Cape York, the most northerly point of Australia. This location is seriously isolated. If your vehicle gets into trouble and has to be towed out to where it can be repaired, it can cost well over $2000. There is about 1000km of rough corrugated roads and a lot of creeks have to be forded, with water coming up above the bottom of the doors. One crossing, Nolan’s Brook (which we did not attempt), is particularly challenging. The creek bottom is sandy, the water deep and fairly fast-moving, and the approaches, either rocky or deeply rutted mud. If you are well prepared and experienced, you can cross providing you let your tires down to half-pressure, put a waterproof screen on your radiator, and pick your route carefully. During the week we were in the area, 30 vehicles found themselves flooded in the middle of Nolan’s Brook and had to be towed out and back to the local repair garage about 50km away.
Maurice driving the Troopy through a creek near Cape York
At $2000 each, the local tow-truck operator was fast becoming a rich man. The local ranger told me that most of the “drowned” vehicles resulted from lack of preparation and experience combined with a fair bit of bravado and “Dutch Courage” (For those that need a translation, the drivers were a bit drunk!). We had a vehicle that could handle the conditions but my lack of experience with creek crossings was enough for me to choose the ferry 10km further up the road. I had to pay $60 for the ferry but it was better than the $2000 that the others had to pay (even before repairs were added to the cost).
The “She’ll be right mate! Approach does not work for our spiritual life either. Preparation and experience are both challenging and rewarding. If we simply assume that “She’ll be right!”, we end up being reactive to circumstances rather than proactive.
Paul says it so well:
Maurice, I love the way you turn your personal experiences to lessons given to us from bible words. Thanks to the editors who allowed the photo of you being 'up the creek' (nearly)or 'Moosa' as we say on Norfolk - waiting for you.
Godbless today, Mrs A Stolz.
The experiences of our lives are our opportunity to work with God our Father as he perfects us, just as he did with Jesus his son. (Hebrews 5:7-9.) What we learn with Jesus in the small mundane matters of life and relationship will serve us well when we are faced with the big critical moments of our lives. Washing self from aspects of my life through the blood, sweat and tears of Jesus is what overcoming is all about. This is truly being prepared: a practical working relationship with Jesus to develop the habits and character that make us in his image. (Hebrews 13:2-21.)
So how do I prepare to face changes and challenges in a way that brings glory to the LORD?
One way is studying the examples in the Bible and learning from them.
Another is laying my plans for each day before the LORD and being aware of how I react to them working out or not, thus practicing on minor changes and developing correct habits I will be preparing to face major changes or challenges.
I smiled this morning as I saw the topic of our Sabbath school lesson because I am going through a major change in my life and knew that this lesson was not a coincident, the Lord wrote it because He knew I needed it.
My name is Stephanie and I am a 54 year old living in Georgia US, at least until Tuesday of this week. For 11 years I worked from home and enjoyed my job as a insurance nurse. I watched my daughter gave birth to twins, my oldest grandson first day at kindergarten and my son in law getting his dream job. All while living together.
I was happy. Then in August of last year my company closed leaving me and over a 1000 others to find employment.
After 3 months of hard searching, i found a job 1300 miles away in New york! I thank God for this job but wonders why I feel so sad the closer I am to my departure. I hate change.
I hold the little ones closer and longer now.
I have such a mix of emotions and pray fear and anxiety leaves my soul. I don't want to be sad this morning, I am grateful for a job, I am grateful for family who has offered me a home in New York, grateful for my son in law now works at home so that my daughter has him close with the 3 little ones.
God knew this day was coming and He knew I would be crying this morning because I will not see my family daily...So He blessed me with this lesson, reminded me He never gave me the spirit of fear, but power, love and a sound mind!
I know that what's important to you is important to God. He understands our pain and hurt both large and small.
Thank you Stephanie for writing honestly about your experience and your perspective of how to cope with it in God.
There are likely many of us who can relate to what you are experiencing because we either have gone through similar or are going through similar.
I recently heard Chuck Swindoll make a comment about situations of unforseen and unexpected change that you also reflected. Chuck said there are 5 word you will never hear God utter from heaven: "I never saw that coming!"
I also appreciate how you hilighted a dominant attribute of God in your last couple of sentences: God abounds in compassion (Ex 34:6)!
May God order your steps and make your path straight as you move into this next chapter of your life's unfolding journey...
Thank you all for you words of encouragement. Thank you Phil for your heartfelt response God bless and keep you and your family.
Thank you Stephanie for sharing. Change is a must in our lifes and it sometimes gets to us when we're unprepared at all. About two and a half months ago my grandson passed away from a very an unfortunate accident. I could not bear it and I'm still mourning because he was my little friend whom I loved so much, but after reading today's chapter, I've learned that God cannot give you something you can't handle!! He is indeed besides me in times like this and He'll never leave me. Praise be to our Almighty God!
It is good that you are praising God in your circumstances - and despite your circumstances. That is a very good way to approach situations like what you are going through (1 Thess 5:18; Phil 4:6).
May The God of peace give you peace in the midst of the storm (Phil 4:7)...
Dear Nyanbeta,
I cannot imagine the pain of losing your grandson. I feel so sad for you and my heart hurts for you especially when you mentioned him being your little friend. May our God of comfort wrap you tightly in His arms and give you sweet peace and a heart to bear!
Thank you for sharing. We surely have a loving and powerful God who helped us through many changes. We lost our Father (Hero) on 14/8/2018 and lost one of our Brother 20/8/2018 and throughout the changes we encountered, our Lord Jesus was so close to us.
Dear Ula,
So sorry for the lost of your father and brother. God bless you and your family to be strong and keep holding on to Him for he is our blessed hope!
Some are more adventurous than others. I am more cautious and like to make plans ahead of time, in hopes that the outcome will likely be successful. If the plans are faulty, the results may be disastrous. I definitely do not go to dangerous places. I hope there may be a bit of wisdom with the saying, there is no fool like an old fool.