“I the Lord do not change.”
A short sentence, a profound thought. Meditate upon these words for a few minutes before you read on.
This morning, as I was reading Malachi, I found this scripture passage. I’m sure many of you have heard or read it before. It is one we count on. It steadies and encourages us, and it is unlike most of our daily lives.
Change directs our world, some good, and some not so good. It can be refreshing to the spirit, soul, and body. It might also bring stress and the unknown. But like it or not, change is part of the created world in which we live. Someday in heaven, when we receive our new bodies, we may be like our creator who stays the same throughout eternity.
In spring, we look forward to the vibrant palette of green leaves and floral colors which will decorate our homes and yards throughout the summer and fall. We leave behind the drab gray and brown of winter.
The Lord has created an interesting and intricate balance of change in our world. Yes, we enjoy the different seasons. But as I gaze at my garden, well on its way to glorious blooms, I am reminded that even though our seasons change, there is a deliberate steadiness without temporal interference.
The Soloman’s seal, the roses, astilbe and hellebores now have broken out of their winter hibernation to show their palette of electric green leaves, pink buds, and brave early flowers. But their constancy does not change.
Yes. I have carefully placed each plant in my garden. Each has its own microclimate of sun and earth. Springtime in the forest is similar. The Lord placed the plants where they would thrive. Last year I did a spring wildflower hike in the Smokey Mountains. There are specific places where the bloodroot, trillium, spring beauties, trout lily, and anemones bloom. What doesn’t change is where they bloom.
Of course, there are a few exceptions, such as my blue campanula that marches either east or west every year in my garden bed. But it doesn’t jump from my garden to the lawn. In the woods, the wildflowers come up in the same place along the path every year. They may multiply and cover the path at some point, such as the trout lilies I encountered in the mountains. Some of these colonies have grown there for 100+ years.
Our natural world also keeps its shape. A rose bush doesn’t suddenly produce a yellow lily. It doesn’t change into a hydrangea. Their structural integrity and design stay the same. Humans don’t grow up to be bears or elk. We have a specific design, even though we may differ in facial features, height, or hair color.
The only significant change we experience as adults is when the Holy Spirit comes to live in us. That is an invisible transformation manifested by our changed lives. We are the only part of creation that receives something from our Lord that doesn’t change—His Spirit. That part remains for eternity.
The next time you are struggling with a wave of change that seems to want to overtake you, meditate on, “I the Lord do not change.” He is with you until the end of the age. He won’t leave you or abandon you, but will see you through until you reach the golden shore of heaven.
“And behold, I am with you always, to the ends of the age.”
Matthew 28:20 ESV
- Malachi 3:6 NIV
