Constancy in Change: How God’s Immutability Impacts Transition
I don’t like change. And yet, I find that things change in my life far more often than I would like. It seems that just when I begin to feel comfortable and secure in a certain place or season, everything shifts, and I’m back to being in transition again. Recently, I experienced a major transition, as my husband and I moved from Seattle to the Philadelphia area. Even though we were in Seattle for just three years, I had come to love the city, and the state of Washington in particular. I loved being able to see mountains in the distance on a clear day. I loved being able to walk to grab a cup of coffee or pick up a book from the library. I loved being able to drive an hour or so in one direction and hour in another and experience different scenery and terrains to hike. So when God led us to leave our home and move across the country (for the second time in four years), I found myself struggling with this major transition.
It wasn’t that moving didn’t excite me at all. In fact, the move was an answer to prayer, as my husband was able to take a job that he always wanted. Plus, even though we loved Seattle, it was a difficult place to live for the long haul, so we were thankful to move to a place where we could have a bit more stability. But transition is still transition. Change is still change. And the moving pieces of it all (no pun intended) paired with the loss of things we loved proved difficult.
As I’ve gone through and processed this transition, I’ve come to grow more in my admiration for God’s immutability. God’s immutability is one of His attributes that means that who God is and what He promises never changes. God will never change His mind, and His character always remains the same. Numbers 23:19 speaks to God’s immutability by saying, “God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?” Though seasons change, plans shift, and circumstances fluctuate, God remains the same.
God’s immutability has been a comfort for me in this shifting season because it reminds me that God is constant even when everything is changing. He is still good. He is still faithful. And He is still working in my life in ways that I can’t fully see. So even though I want things to feel familiar and comfortable again, I’m thankful that God is someone I can come to and find Him to be exactly the same God as He was before.
Maybe you are in a time of transition or are about to enter a changing season. Even if you are looking forward to this change, there is probably still a small part of you that feels a bit anxious. Or maybe, like me, there is something that you are leaving behind in this new season, and you are mourning that loss. If so, I encourage you to meditate on God’s immutability. I encourage you to consider how God’s never changing character meets you in this changing season. You can cling to God and count on Him through this transition, knowing that He is a constant source of stability.
So even though it will take more time for me to be settled in this new season, I find myself even more motivated to depend on God and rest in Him. I’m encouraged to trust the Lord and look to Him in the moments I feel insecure or overwhelmed. I don’t like change, but I’m thankful for a God who never changes.
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