04 May 2005 Devotion for Today "The God Who Doesn't Change" Malachi 3:5-7

04 May 2005  Devotion for Today  “The God Who Doesn’t Change”  Malachi 3:5-7

 

In a world kept chaotic by change, you will eventually discover that this is one of the most precious qualities of God. He doesn’t change. Do you ever feel like just holding up your hands and screaming, “Time out!” and make everything stop? How many times has a spouse pointed a finger at his or her life partner and shouted, “You’ve changed! You’re not the person I married!” How many times have you heard about employees who loved working for their company – maybe they’ve even worked there for several decades - and the company gets bought out and the people change and the mission changes and the atmosphere changes and all of a sudden the employees mournfully reminisce about the “good old days”?
            Countries are reconfigured and entire governments are ousted in a carefully executed coup. NFL quarterbacks grow “old” age 36 and retire; statesmen die; matriarchs pass on. We are lost in a sea of change. As soon as we think we’ve learned how to parent babies, we have to learn how to discipline toddlers. When we get really good with toddlers, we’ve suddenly got preadolescents; when we get really good with preadolescents, we’ve got these strange creatures called teenagers. We never quite catch up.
            Just because your team won the World Series last year doesn’t mean they’ll win it this year. Even worse, just because a friend was true or a spouse pledged her love doesn’t guarantee that that loyalty and pledge will be honored 10 years from now.
Things change. We change. Experts tell us the most successful people are the ones who learn to cope with change. But I’m convinced the best way to cope with change, ironically enough, is to get to know a God who doesn’t change, One who provides an anchor in the swirling seas of change.

            Some people think that God is like a genie in a bottle. You get 2 or 3 good wishes out of him and then it’s all over. I’m here to tell you, He’s no genie in a bottle. He doesn’t run out of compassion and He’s not short on power! When you need His help, He’ll do it again.  One never-changing aspect of God’s character is that He is always there for you-ready to help you when you need Him. 

 

            The prophet Malachi writes in chapter 3: ⁵ And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien- Because they do not fear Me," Says the Lord of hosts. ⁶ "For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob. ⁷ Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the Lord of hosts.

Think about the God whom you serve.  Is your God unchangeable? Is He limited in what He knows? Does He make plans at the last minute, reacting to all the surprises that come His way. 2. Or is He high and lifted up, exalted. Can we agree with God’s Words in Isaiah 55:8-9 : "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.¨ 3. Or is your God easy to understand, just a slightly inflated version of yourself?  Be blessed today with the knowledge that while everything in life seems to change around you with dizzying speed, God is the same yesterday, today and forever.

Rev. Jeffery C. Russell
Salem Baptist Church
Elizabeth City, NC
jefferyrussell@earthlink.net

 

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