God Has Never Changed and He Never Will

Photo by David Peters on Unsplash

I am overwhelmed.

I confessed that this morning at our elder meeting. Between investment calculators, unemployment data and Round 87 of Mouse Trap with the kids, there is much to be overwhelmed by. As I'm sure is true of you or someone you're close to, I have been hit with waves of despair, fear, courage, optimism, anxiety, disbelief and pretty much every emotion that can be applied to the last two weeks. The entire spectrum.

When I took this to my wife Jen -- who has also felt all those emotions, although I think it is a good gift of God that oftentimes husbands and wives don't feel the same emotions at the same time -- she reminded me of a truth that I need to be reminded of: God hasn't changed. And he won't change.

Our world, on the other hand, has changed a lot. There has been an astonishing amount of change since March 1. I remember reading an article at the beginning of the month about how the Olympics was in jeopardy and thinking, "Hah! They're not going to cancel the Olympics. Come on!"

Then they did.

We don't notice God's immutability until something in our world changes. This is how it goes, right? Your dad gets cancer. Your house floods. Your best friend moves away. The bottom drops out and your very stable and seemingly controlled life is thrown into chaos.

Stasis engenders entitlement because when things are going well and we believe we are in control, we aren't moving so we can't see that God isn't moving either. But when we get sent into orbit and start looking around for answers, only then does it become clear that God has never and will never change.

He is the same God who freed the slaves from Egypt and confronted the woman at the well. He is an everlasting rock. This is part of the good in having our world upended. It reminds us that it is in fact not actually our world.

2 Thessalonians 3:5 says this: "May the Lord direct your hearts to the love of God and to the steadfastness of Christ.” This is Paul's prayer for the Thessalonians. This is our prayer for Mosaic Church. This is my prayer for myself!

I have thought often of the first Sunday we get to gather again. I know it's only been two weeks so I don't know what it's going to be like after four or six or 20 or however long this goes. But what I've thought about is how sweet and spectacular it will be to worship together on that day. The people of God were not meant to be apart like this.

We will sing and we will (hopefully) hug and we will have a renewed appreciation for both ordinary Sundays and for those who throughout history have been prohibited from meeting at all like we have been but for different reasons.

And my hope when I think about this day is that we as a church (and I as a member of it) remember that even though our world moved back to normal -- or whatever normal looks like -- and our circumstances look far different than they did to start 2020, that we approach the throne with humility and thankfulness. That we don't praise God simply because our world changed again (although that will be praiseworthy) but mostly because his never will.