Swift Transition
Time is filled with swift transition
Hold To God’s Unchanging Hand // words by Jennie Wilson // 1904
Naught of earth unmoved can stand
Build your hopes on things eternal
Hold to God’s unchanging hand
It’s more than 100 years since those words were written, yet there just as relevant and meaningful today as ever before.
We live in a world of swift transition. And all of us understand that life is a series of trying to figure out on a daily basis what to say, “Yes” to and what to say “No” to. In fact, you’ve probably figured this out by now, but…
Every time you say, “YES,” to one thing you automatically say, “No,” to another!
Yes Day
A few weeks ago our family had a night together at home and we wanted to watch a movie together. So we went over to Netflix and we found this movie we had heard about but hadn’t seen yet called, “Yes Day.”
Have you seen it yet?
If not, it’s a great movie and I don’t want to spoil it for you, but the premise of the movie is based on this family that is like so many of our families, mom and dad are busy and more often than not, have to say, “No” to the kids. There’s just not enough time to say YES to all the things the kids want to do.
But then one day the parents decide, in an effort to bring the family closer together, what if we just set aside one day and on that day, within reason, we’re going to say YES to our kids. We’ll do whatever they want to do for an entire day.
And the result is a day filled with fun, adventure, surprise, and memories that will last a lifetime.
Yes Requires Sacrifice
But their YES didn’t come without sacrifice. Every YES requires a sacrifice.
So saying YES to their kids for an entire day meant saying NO to work for an entire day. For the parents it meant saying NO to themselves, to what they wanted to do, for an entire day.
Every YES carries with it a necessary NO to something else. Every YES requires a sacrifice.
If we’re honest, this is WHY so many of us suffer in our spiritual lives.
We keep saying yes to the wrong things, or maybe to good things but they are things that when we say YES to them they take up time and space in our lives and require us to say NO to the things that really matter.
We end up saying YES to so many things that as a result we don’t have time to say YES to the things that matter most. Every commitment, every decision to do this, volunteer for that, watch this, go to that event… every major and minor decision to say YES to one thing means we say NO to something or someone else.
Sometimes it means saying NO to the people who matter most in our lives.
Sometimes, often times, it means saying NO to time with God.
But what would happen if we gave God our first YES?
What if, before we said yes to anyone or anything else, we said YES LORD?
Even in the middle of the most difficult times, what if we said YES to God?
What if, even in the middle of the darkest night, we said YES LORD?
Fix Your Thoughts
Hundreds of years before Jesus came in the flesh to walk upon this planet, the people of God were living in the middle of the darkest of times.
At the time, they weren’t dealing with a pandemic, they were constantly being invaded by other nations. Nations like the Babylonians and the Assyrians. These superpowers would invade their lands and then they would be taken off in captivity.
They would suffer under the oppression of overlords. In every imaginable way these were the darkest of times.
But in the middle of all that darkness there was a prophet, a man of God who spoke words of hope as well as words of judgement. Words of promise as well as words that called people to turn away from their sinful ways and turn back to God.
His name was ISAIAH.
And I want you to hear these words he once spoke to the people of God living during a time of hardship. During a time where they have been waiting for God to act but cannot yet see God’s activity. Their future seems uncertain and the problems they are facing seem overwhelming. He says in Isaiah 26.3-8:
3 You [GOD] will keep in perfect peace
all who trust in you,
all whose thoughts are fixed on you!
4 Trust in the Lord always,
for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.
Are you wondering how you should respond in the middle of overwhelming difficulty you’re facing right now? Isaiah says…
In the middle of your uncertainty, in the middle of your suffering, fix your thoughts on God, on the goodness of God, on God who is the Eternal Rock! When you do, as you do, He will keep you in perfect peace.
Are you struggling to find inner peace right now? Are you feeling overwhelmed, anxious, worried, and stressed out? What are your thoughts fixed on?
Isaiah reminds the people of God in the darkest, most uncertain of times, when they can’t see God working, to fix their thoughts on God. And when they do they will find perfect peace.
Be Humble
And then Isaiah reminds them of the power and the justice of God. Because God…
5 He humbles the proud
and brings down the arrogant city.
I don’t want to skip over this because we’re living in a world that is full of people who are full of pride.
Perhaps more than ever before there’s a greed, a selfishness, a self centeredness, a lack of concern for others, that is spreading like a pandemic. And listen, we all struggle with pride. We all struggle with self-centeredness… Isaiah reminds us that God…
…humbles the proud
and brings down the arrogant city.
He brings it down to the dust.
6 The poor and oppressed trample it underfoot,
and the needy walk all over it.
Those ancient superpowers, those oppressors from other nations, they always built and fortified their cities on high ground. This gave them the military advantage should they come under attack. Having the high ground with a fortified city made it almost impossible to conquer!
But no matter the size of the city, no matter how great, or strong, or powerful, or mighty it may be, our God is greater, our God is stronger. The proud will be humbled.
But for those who have chosen the way of humility…
7 …for those who are righteous,
the way is not steep and rough.
You are a God who does what is right,
and you smooth out the path ahead of them.
Isaiah paints the contrast in stark colors.
The proud will be humbled but the humble will be lifted up! (1 Peter 5.6, James 4.10).
Say Yes in the Darkness
All of us are facing uncertain times, adversity, and difficulty. And listen to me… the way we choose to RESPOND in this moment, whether we’re facing oppression, adversity, or uncertainty, REVEALS where our hope is found.
Isaiah tells us, this is how people who have put their hope in God RESPOND in times like these… We say,
8 Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
What if the posture of your heart and life was turned wholly and completely to saying, “Yes, Lord?”
What if the entirety of your life was focused on the name, the fame, and the renown of God as your sole desire, even in the most difficult of times?
What if you started each day with YES LORD?
What if, no matter the situation, no matter the uncertainty, no matter the difficulty or adversity you turned the posture of your heart to say:
Yes, Lord, walking in the way of your laws,
we wait for you;
your name and renown
are the desire of our hearts.
An Unconditional Yes
On Sept 24, 1989, I said, “YES, LORD!” when I stepped into the waters of baptism.
My father baptized me and my sister on the same day. I gave Jesus my YES. And if I’m honest, some days I’ve kept that promise better than others. But each day I wake up I begin again and I say, YES LORD! And that YES LORD is a daily decision, sometimes a moment by moment decision, to love Him, live for Him, and make much of Jesus in my life.
On August 21, 1999, I said, “YES,” to my wife.
We stood before friends and family and we said YES to each other. Over the last 22 years, if I’m being honest, some days I’ve honored that YES better than others. But with each new day, I say YES again to her. And that YES is a daily decision, sometimes a moment by moment decision, to love her, lay down my life for her, and demonstrate the manifest love of Jesus toward her.
Both in my relationship with Jesus and in my relationship with Alisha, my YES wasn’t conditional. It wasn’t conditional on my circumstances, my emotions, my feelings, or my expectations.
It was an unconditional YES.
Those two YESes are undoubtedly the two most important YESes in my life. I’ve said YES to other things, but my YES to Jesus and my YES to Alisha are without question the most important in my life.
Yes In Adversity
And here’s the thing about that YES. By saying YES to Alisha even when things are uncertain, even when things are hard, even when we’re faced with what seem like insurmountable odds, my YES to her proves my love for her to her and to the world around us.
In the very SAME WAY, your YES to Jesus even when things are uncertain, even when things are hard, even when you’re faced with what seems like insurmountable odds, your YES to Jesus proves your love for Jesus to Jesus and the world around you.
Every adversity is an opportunity to say YES LORD.
I think what has to happen for us is that we need to reframe suffering, adversity and hardship. Instead of wondering why this is happening, instead of complaining, or being mad all the time… What if we viewed every adversity, every hardship, as an opportunity to say YES LORD?
To say YES to obedience and to walking in the way of Jesus?
To say YES to His Name and His Renown!
What if we thought about suffering as an opportunity to become more like Christ?
The reason this is important is because it’s in adversity that our YES LORD is revealed and our testimony gains traction. It’s through difficulty that our YES LORD has the opportunity to make a difference in our life and in the lives of others.
I know this moment is hard, but don’t miss this opportunity to say YES LORD, to Live Different, Love Different, and answer the question… what would Jesus do if Jesus were me today?
And here’s the promise, when we give God our ultimate YES we experience His ultimate grace. (v7). It’s not YES LORD so he’ll protect us from every hardship, it’s YES LORD in the middle of every hardship! It’s YES LORD in times of swift transition… I’m going to say YES LORD and hold on to God’s unchanging hand!
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