“Behold, I send my messenger, and he will prepare the way before me. And the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his temple; and the messenger of the covenant in whom you delight, behold, he is coming, says the Lord of hosts. 2 But who can endure the day of his coming, and who can stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire and like fullers’ soap. 3 He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, and they will bring offerings in righteousness to the Lord.[a] 4 Then the offering of Judah and Jerusalem will be pleasing to the Lord as in the days of old and as in former years. 5 “Then I will draw near to you for judgment. I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, against the adulterers, against those who swear falsely, against those who oppress the hired worker in his wages, the widow and the fatherless, against those who thrust aside the sojourner, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. 6 “For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. Malachi 3:1-7
Recently, my family went back to Illinois to see some family and friends. Every time that we go to Illinois, we always take the same route. We take I-94 to various backroads. The weather does not change the route we take, nor does construction, or the time of day. Taking I-94 is always the quickest, easiest, and most direct route back.
Having taken the same route multiple times now over the years at various points in the year, it is amazing to see how the same route changes. We recently saw all of the trees change from green to yellow, red, and orange. Next time we will take it, the trees will be bare and covered in snow. After that, we will probably see some flooding and the trees becoming green again, along with seeing some road construction. The same route always changes.
And that is life, is it not? We live in a world that constantly changes. We are people that constantly change. Our health, finances, happiness, situation, you name it, can change in an instant. The hymn “Abide with Me” puts it well when it says, “Swift to its close ebbs out life’s little day/ Earth’s joys grow dim, its glories pass away/Change and decay in all around I see.” Simply put, everything, everywhere, changes!
However, the hymn also puts it well with that same line which ends, “O Thou Who changest not, abide with me.” In the midst of a changing world, our God does not change! We can depend on Him, His love, His mercy, His kindness, and His faithfulness. We can count on His unchanging promises. We can count on the unchanging God in the midst of a changing world. As the leaves fall, as the snow comes, as situations change, as health deteriorates, these changes point us to the God that does not change!
In Christ,
Pastor Kooi
(Originally published in Emmaus Footprints, Vol. XXI, Number 4, November 2019)