Not So Small Changes

“I have a great respect for incremental improvement, and I’ve done that sort of thing in my life, but I’ve always been attracted to the more revolutionary changes. I don’t know why. Because they’re harder. They’re much more stressful emotionally. And you usually go through a period where everybody tells you that you’ve completely failed.” – Steve Jobs. 

There is a story told about change. A man named Tyler was unsure about his choice of clothes for church so he sought some counsel from his wife. He asked, “Do you think I should change?” She took advantage of the opportunity and replied, “It depends—are you talking about changing your shirt or making a wholesale change as a human being?”

Ouch. I think we are all open to making small changes in our lives that make us happier and more successful, but few of us think we need to commit to something that’s going to change our lives in a daunting and massive way. Our spouse may disagree.  What’s more important is what God thinks.   

Some changes such as Hurricane Michael seem out of our control. Even so, the hurricane produced some big challenges and even bigger changes for many people. When the challenge is this big, the preliminary, small steps we take don’t seem to make a difference. We feel like we make little to no progress. It is easy to get discouraged and begin asking yourself “why bother?”  Isaiah 55:10-11 tells: “The rain and snow come down from the heavens and stay on the ground to water the earth. They cause the grain to grow, producing seed for the farmer and bread for the hungry.  It is the same with my word. I send it out, and it always produces fruit.It will accomplish all I want it to, and it will prosper everywhere I send it.”

Isaiah is reminding us that God is at work regardless of the size of changes in our lives. There is no doubt many people in Northwest Florida face big changes ahead that will impact them in a way like never before. The life that many people have known for any number of years is coming to an end, at least for the near future. Life has its way of working out our faith by trial and fire. It is so easy to worry about what the future will look like. That future coupled with the big changes will make it a challenge for all of us to keep God first.

God has a purpose, and His plans to accomplish that purpose are perfect. Trusting God’s purpose, and seeking to understand that He takes all the events from our life and orchestrates good from them, leads to a changed perspective.

So although it may be difficult to maintain the right attitude with the house needing repair and no contractors available to do the work, look to God for His purpose and it will change your perspective.  We can trust that in the midst of all the things that seem to go wrong, God will bring something good out of it.

Discussion questions:

1. Do big changes make it harder to trust and wait on God than smaller, incremental changes? Why?
2. God will work in and through every situation to bring good from it. Agree or disagree and why?