Unfamiliar paths aren’t scary with God
by Maria Rudolph
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I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them (Isaiah 42:16b).
How much do you like change? It depends on what the change concerns, you might think. Some change is positive, like feeling healthier. A bitter heart that opens up to forgiveness and love again is also great change. But often, the thought of change unsettles us. We are creatures of habit.
We find comfort in being able to predict things and find familiarity in how things are. But in this, we must be careful that we don’t become like the Pharisees in Jesus’ days. They were so wary of change to what they knew as the ways of God that there was no room for them to accept Jesus.
Jesus opened the eyes of the blind, led the people to the kingdom of God along unfamiliar paths like servanthood, humility and inclusion, and turned darkness into light. When we walk with Jesus, we can be confident amid the changes we face. Unfamiliar paths aren’t scary with God. We have his promise: ‘These things I will do, I will not forsake you’.
For you, this could mean journeying through a time of illness that changes your everyday life. It could mean embracing changes in relationships with people dear to us. It could mean embracing changes to how we practise ministry in our church. Unfamiliar paths aren’t scary with God. God’s perfect love casts out fear (1 John 4:18). God will smooth the rough places and not forsake us as we fix our eyes and hearts on him through all familiarity and change.
What changes are you currently experiencing or foreshadowing in your life?
Loving God, you never change. You are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Yet we are constantly faced with changes around us. Please give me courage. Give me steadfast faith in you so I can prevail along unfamiliar paths through the darkness and in rough places. Yet not I but through Christ in me. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
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