COMFORTABLE?
Change is hard. There is something characteristically human about refusing change in favor of the comfortable or the familiar. But the nature of the church’s mission demands that we are ever ready to step into new territory, embracing necessary, biblical change for the glory of God and for the sake of the gospel.
The Israelites faced a similar dilemma under Joshua’s leadership. As they prepared to break camp and cross the Jordan River, God’s instruction was to allow the Levites to lead the way carrying the ark of the covenant:
“After three days the officers went through the camp and commanded the people: ‘When you see the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God carried by the Levitical priests you are to break camp and follow it. But keep a distance of about a thousand yards between yourselves and the ark. Don’t go near it, so that you can see the way to go, for you haven’t traveled this way before.’ Joshua told the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves, because the Lord will do wonders among you tomorrow.'” (Joshua 3:2-5, CSB)
“You haven’t traveled this way before.” Those words may have caused a church split in some of our contemporary congregations or even a ministry divide in a traveling group. But not in the Israelite camp. They trusted the Lord’s leadership and stepped into the waters of the Jordan River with faithful expectation that God would deliver on His word. They were not disappointed.
New does not always mean bad.
Several times in Scripture, God indicated that He was doing something new:
a new song in Isaiah 42:10
a new name in Isaiah 62:2
a new covenant in Jeremiah 31:31
a new heart
a new spirit in Ezekiel 11:19
a new commandment in John 13:34
a new creature in 2 Corinthians 5:17
a new Jerusalem in Revelation 21:2
all things new in verse 5.
I wonder how many times we miss what God is doing in us and around us simply because we associate new with bad. Can you imagine the painful disappointment on the scene, should the Israelites have responded to God, “No thanks, God. We’ll stay on this side of the Jordan because this is what’s familiar. We’re comfortable here.” God said, “You haven’t traveled this way before” (v.4). But what was ahead of them was infinitely more glorious than anything behind them.
So let’s move forward in faith. Awaiting the new - like His promise of new mercy with the dawning of every sunrise. He’s orchestrating perfection on our behalf, let’s be faithful enough to trust that his newness is like the current breath in our body. It is essential to living… and we are not dead yet. We are alive and he is always doing something new.