Yesterday afternoon my seven-year-old son and I walked the mile to the neighbor’s house for coffee (juice and brownies for the kids). His older brothers had ridden ahead on their bikes, and I was savoring the few quiet moments with “just one” child. We admired the fall colors that are now out in full force, and because nature is a major focus of my homeschooling plans and dreams this year, I made an effort to take note of, and comment on, all the things I saw that brought me joy, hoping to encourage him to do the same. Some of his observations impressed me as he noted the contrasts between the yellows and oranges of the leaves and the deep blue sky, as well as some of the shapes and textures of the leaves, giving me a brief moment of reassurance and satisfaction at the job I am doing of teaching him. Then he pointed out several sticks that reminded him of machine guns, and my ego was returned to a normal size.
Autumn is my second favorite season (our brief Canadian summers are my favorite), but I have to confess mixed feelings about it. I feel like I could spend hours outside when the weather is warm enough, staring at the vivid displays of color, soaking in the ways the bright yellows, oranges, remaining greens, and intermittent reds of the leaves play off the clear skies and reflect off of the water of the nearby lake. My camera is probably more active in the fall than it is in any other season because I feel a yearning to preserve the fleeting beauty surrounding me.
That fleeting beauty is exactly what brings the mixed feelings into play. Before long, the weather will cool significantly, more than it already has, and with one windy day, all the colors will fall to the ground, signifying winter’s soon arrival. Canadian winters are notoriously long and cold, and while I try to make the most of where God has placed me, I must confess that those cold, often dark days begin to wear on me much sooner than they end. In autumn, I am keenly aware that what is bringing me such joy and serenity is also ushering in the months of the year that I least enjoy.
This sense of mixed emotions also came up when I was admiring the colors along the highway as my 10 year old son and I drove to town for groceries a few days ago. The sky was smoky, thanks to the fires in Oregon and California, but the colors were still remarkable, even without the backdrop of a bright blue sky. My son commented that fall is his favorite season because all of his favorite colors (red, yellow and orange) are on display, but also that he feels a bit of sadness knowing that the warm weather is coming to an end and winter is on its way.
I found myself thinking about the temporary nature of the seasons. I know that not everyone is fortunate enough to experience all four seasons every year, but the way that each season lasts for its time and is gone reminded me of how temporary our life circumstances can be. Whether we are in a good or hard or just outright bad season, no matter how long it FEELS to us, or how many human years it may last, it is, indeed, temporary. The oft-quoted Ecclesiastes 3:1 comes to mind:
To everything there is a season, a time for every matter under heaven.
It seems that the ending of good times, enjoyable experiences or seasons, has been a recurring theme in our home in the past months, and as I’ve watched nature’s season change before my very eyes over the last couple of weeks, I find myself reassured of two things. First, though the temporary nature of GOOD circumstances or seasons in our lives can be disappointing, it is also true that difficult seasons and circumstances are also temporary. Further, many times the difficulties that surprise us become chronic or permanent, but most often, the hardships we experience here in this life, the things that irritate or frustrate or tire us, will have an end.
As I think about some of the difficulties our family has faced in the last years, I have sometimes felt they would never end. I am learning to remind myself, though, that while not all the difficulties may be resolved, I am not the same as I was months, weeks, or even days ago when the trouble began. Even though my difficulties may remain unchanged, if my trust in the Lord is even a little bit more than it was yesterday, then my difficulties will begin to have less power over my heart.
The changing seasons remind me of the reality that nothing in our earthly life is permanent, neither the good or the bad.
Unchanging God
Secondly, I am reassured that while, like our earthly seasons, nothing in our earthly lives is truly permanent, the God who keeps the earth in orbit and has placed it in the perfect location in space to create these predictable seasons is completely faithful and fully UNCHANGING. The Bible speaks often of this truth, both in the Old and New Testaments. For example, in Psalm 102, a psalm of lament, the composer lays out the woes of his earthly circumstances, expressing feelings of futility, loneliness and distress. He quickly, however, turns his focus from his distress to the majesty of the Lord, saying in verse 12:
But you, O LORD, are enthroned forever…
After 12 more verses extolling the attributes of the Lord, he closes by writing
Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands. They will perish, but you will remain; they will wear out like a garment; You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away, but you are the same, and your years have no end (Psalm 102:25-27).
The book of Malachi calls the people of Israel to repentance, reminding them of the Lord’s faithfulness to them throughout the generations, pointing out the ways in which they have wandered and forsaken Him. In chapter 3, verse 6, the Lord himself, reminds them:
For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob are not consumed.
The unchanging nature of the Lord is not swayed by the changing nature of our lives and even our hearts. In fact, this unchanging, unchangeable attribute of God is precisely the thing that prevents us from being consumed, as it were, by the ever-changing tides of our lives. It is His permanence that preserves us in our impermanence.
In the New Testament, Hebrews 13:8, in the author exhorts his readers to hold fast and steady to the faith, and then he tells them,
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
From eternity past, the LORD has not changed. The universe has changed. In reality, our existence as a planet and as a race has been little more than a blip on the radar of God’s “time.” It is hard for us to put this into the confines of our minds, bound by the constraints of time and space, but my mind is continually drawn back to the fact that, even MORE than our lives and our world are in constant flux and change, so is the infinite level of God’s UNCHANGING.
The last verse that comes to mind when I think of the unchanging nature of the Lord is in the first chapter of James, verse 17.
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of Lights, with whom there is no variation, or shadow due to change.
As an Adventist I understood the unchanging nature of God to be pointing us back to the self-satisfaction we had in knowing that we were the privileged ones to understand that the Law, the 10 Commandments, were unchanging. I have spent some time thinking how I understood the topic of the faithfulness and unchanging nature of God while in Adventism, and I really couldn’t recall anything, other than being pointed to the fact that the 10 Commandments were the transcript of God’s character, and THEY could not change.
I did an internet search, looking for Ellen White quotes on the topic of God’s faithfulness, and without fail, every quote and passage of her writings that I found elaborated on how it was OUR faith that would determine God’s ability to keep us. Her lack of attention given to the immutable faith of God and her marked emphasis on human effort and obedience as a means of being worthy of God’s faithfulness is disappointing, but not surprising.
It is no wonder that my even increasing awe and wonder of the God of the Bible is anchored in an increasing awareness of who He IS, as well as continual reminders of who I am (and am not). I have become deeply aware that NONE of what He has given me—salvation complete and finished through the work of His Son on the cross—is merited or warranted due to MY character or faith.
In Adventism, we spent time, energy, and focus (with varying degrees of conscious awareness) trying to ensure that we were ever improving, ever moving towards the level of character and sinless perfection that we would need to stand without a mediator during end times. We interpreted difficult times as an indictment on our failures to perform as we should, on perceived discipline for having missed the mark. We hoped that, when all was said and done, our efforts would be ENOUGH to permit Jesus to “do the rest.”
We served a god who we perceived as CHANGING, as constantly adapting, maneuvering to adjust to our exercise of our free will. In reality, the only thing that never changed about the god of Adventism was the 10 Commandments. Instead of a life of freedom from bondage, we were chained to a life of constant pitfalls and “tests,” things meant to trip us up and perhaps cause us to lose our salvation. Our god was tricky, not trustworthy. In fact, just thinking about it as I type is discouraging and disheartening.
Since understanding the Gospel, the assurance that His unchangingness rests not in a list of rules for me to follow but in who He is—who He always has been and always will be—has brought peace and confidence to my soul. I confess that I don’t always remember this great truths when I’m confronted with surprises, at least for a time, but the gift of being able to take a breath and return my heart and mind back to these truths of an unchanging God in my ever-changing circumstances is probably one of my most treasured earthly gifts. I can rest, knowing that whatever I am walking through in my mortal life is temporary, and that the goodness of God in those situations, whether they appear “good” or “bad” to me, is unchanging.
This year, as I watch the leaves begin to flutter from the trees, knowing that in a few days most of them will have fallen to the ground, signaling the soon-arrival of a long Canadian winter, I will continue to remind myself of the fleetingness of my circumstances, joyful or painful, easy or hard, and turn my heart to the unchanging, never failing faithfulness of my God. †
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