Associate Pastor Ron Witbeck, Resurrection Life Church Big Rapids
Courtesy photo/Ron WitbeckEveryone has faced times of ‘Handling The Changes’ that impacts our lives! I’m not talking of those times where we may have done something that has caused us to doubt our own character.
Let’s imagine how ‘Handling The Changes’ might have affected some of our heroes' lives found in the Bible, in no particular order.
David: Because God had rejected Saul as King, He sent His Prophet, Samuel, to Jesse, the Bethlehemite, to anoint a new King over Israel. (1 Samuel 16) “For I have provided Himself a King among his sons.” Jesse’s son David was the least of his eight sons, yet God chose David to be the next King over Israel, passing over the seven older sons. His brothers had been rejected. In their ‘Handling The Changes,’ did they treat David differently, instead of respect was there jealousy?
Noah: (Genesis 6) God spoke asking him to build a huge Ark (boat), something that had never been done before, and also giving him the task of gathering two of every creature and getting them into that Ark. What did ‘Handling The Changes’ hold for him? We have no idea what could have been going through his mind. What would his family think? What would his neighbors think?
Gideon: For his fear of the enemy was hiding in a winepress, his story is found in the Book of Judges 6; when an angel of the Lord appeared to him and called him, “you mighty man of valor!” Would his response have possibly been ‘who me?’ ‘Handling The Changes,’ he went from being fearful to following God’s plan, resulting in the destruction of their enemies that by far outnumbered them.
Esther: Because of her beauty and God’s favor, Esther became Queen to King Ahasuerus. Her ‘Handling The Changes’ as Queen put her own life in the danger of death by approaching the King when uninvited, and then was able to save her people, the Jews. Read in Esther 5; her boldness was founded on her faith in God.
We too are faced with the decisions of ‘Handling The Changes’ in our lives! In the Book of 2 Corinthians 5:17, “This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun!”
We also experience changes in our own lives that have set us free from our past. Then ‘Handling The Changes’ by allowing the Holy Spirit who dwells within us to direct our lives similar to the lives of those found in the Bible. We may not be asked to lead an army, build an Ark, or approach a King, but we may be led to pray for others. It may be sharing with others how Jesus has changed our lives, giving us renewed faith to be used by God. We might just be the messenger sent to someone who has lost all hope, just needing to know that someone cares.
Let’s seek God in ‘Handling The Changes.’
— Ron Witbeck is an associate pastor at Resurrection Life Church in Big Rapids.
