Malachi 3: 6 "I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your forefathers you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you," says the LORD Almighty.
It is a comforting thing to know in times like the ones we live in that God does not change. What He was He will be. He is. That is His character.
I was looking this morning at a newspaper and it was telling me all the things that changed yesterday because of financial uncertainty. It suggested changes in institutions that have been rock solid all of my life. Things like GM and Ford that are in big trouble because of money markets changing. I read one place that FDIC could be in trouble if things don't get better.
I don't need to rehearse all the things that are changing for the readers of this blog. You are seeing for yourself. We are all be challenged by what we see changing. We are all considering what changes should we make in our own lives to deal with the cataclysmic changes we see. We should be.
Yesterday I had a friend say to me because of changes that are evident in the church, that possibly after a short while maybe the way we do church will change forever. The church has changed in the past because of shifts in society. The church changed in China when Mao came in. The church changed when Martin Luther declared "the just shall live by faith". The church changed big time when the printing press came into existence, never to go back to a clergy controlled hierarchy. One hundred years ago the church in the world saw a massive change come with the modern day outpouring of the Spirit of God and the resurgence of Pentecostalism.
I am hearing from church leaders everywhere that the economic times we are facing may and probably will have a big impact on the way the church operates. I don't know. I don't know that anyone really knows. One thing I think is for sure. All of the changes that we see in our world and in society right now will produce fast, significant and life altering changes.
In these changing times, in these uncertain times, there is one thing in the church that will not change and for this we can be extremely glad even if we don't really understand it all and that is this; Malachi 3: 6 "I the LORD do not change."
5 comments:
As you said on Sunday "Hope is Where I Live"
Pastor, what you have said this morning is so true, and as I sit here thinking about it I think about the changes that has happened in my life and how changes, scare me to death-they always have. I am so thankful that as I knelt at our alters as a little girl (it has now been about 45 years ago) praying...the God of that day is the exact same one that I pray to today! How awesome is that? Almost nothing in my life is the same as it was....But HE is! Thank you for reminding me of this today. Love you and Ruth very much.
AMEN!!
The same...yesterday, today, and forever.
Malachi 3: 6 "I the LORD do not change." Where the calm is in the storm; where the peace is that is unexplainable; where the joy is that some don't understand . . . It's a comfort knowing He is constant when life is spinning out of control. Thank you, Pastor, for the encouragement.
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