May 28 Things Change

May 28

    Things Change

Ps 102:27 But thou art the same,

and thy years shall have no end. 

Suddenly the car left the busy expressway, crashed through the fence, curved several times across empty fields and headed straight for the Mississippi River. The driver never slowed down. This was no accident. It was being done intentionally in spite of the repeated warnings he was receiving. 

No news agency reported this event. I know because I was the driver.  The GPS startled me for a few seconds until I realized there was a new expressway leading to a new bridge near St Louis. But my GPS did not know the highway had changed and it warned me I should turn around. It also showed I was curving across empty fields and headed for the Mississippi River where there was no bridge. But the GPS was wrong. The roads had changed.

We live in a world of change. The bank we have used for years suddenly has a new name and new policies. The brand of car we grew up with is no longer being manufactured. The telephone that used to hang on the wall or sit on our desk is now in our pocket and will soon be on our wrist. We drive through our old familiar neighborhood and see new drugstores where old landmarks used to be. Advertisers no longer explain the features of an item, they just tell us “This is the new big thing” and people line up for days to be the first ones to own it. Change happens so fast it is nearly impossible to keep up.

But relax. Catch your breathe. There are things that do not change. Let’s look at some of the unchanging things that we can use as an anchor for our minds and souls.

Our meditation verse for today is found in both the old and new testaments. If it was important enough to repeat we should take special note of it.

 

Ps 102:27 But thou art the same,

 and thy years shall have no end.

 

Heb 1:12 but thou art the same,

and thy years shall not fail.

God does not change. Since He does not change that includes his many attributes. If you want to dig deeper into that idea I suggest you purchase a copy of Stephen Charnock’s two volume “The Existence and Attributes of God”. Charnock makes the logical case that all of God’s attributes are immutable (changeless). God’s knowledge, power, wisdom, love, etc. cannot change, because God does not change. Let us try to wrap our finite heads around such an infinite concept. Ouch! My head hurts already.

Ro 11:33 ¶ O the depth of the riches both

of the wisdom and knowledge of God!

how unsearchable are his judgments,

and his ways past finding out!  

Teens in our youth group used to ask me why God felt so far away at times. My standard question was “Who moved?”  At other times they would ask me why they had trouble determining God’s will for their lives. My simple explanation “God will reveal His will, but he won’t walk back to the alley to talk with you”  was clearly understood. No one asked me to explain what I meant. God does not change. We do.

Isa 59:2 But your iniquities have

separated between you and your God,...

Another thing that does not change is the Word of God.

Ps 119:89 For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven.

Isa 40:8 The grass withereth, the flower fadeth: but the word of our God shall stand for ever.

1Pe 1:25 But the word of the Lord endureth for ever….

You probably noticed every one of the verses above has the words for ever.  Men have tried over the ages to destroy it. The Bible still stands and those who opposed it are dead! Skeptics such as Voltaire, Gibbon, Ingersoll, and many others spent their lives denouncing Christ and the Bible. Few people know who these men were. They are like the old illustration of the blacksmith’s anvil. The remains of broken and worn hammers littered the floor around the anvil, but even though they had beat upon it fiercely, the anvil remained and the hammers were broken.

Men who want to change the words of the Bible produce products that are popular for a few years and then like a blazing fire die down to smoldering coals. While some Bible versions are scholarly attempts at providing updated words and phrases, too often they are the product of a profit driven publishing house, which copyrights it so they get all the money from their version. The NIV is owned by Zondervan and for 15-20 years had a corner on the market. Today the latest and greatest version is the ESV (English Standard Version). The ESV was written by Crossway publishers. They own that Bible. I still remember the Amplified Bible, The Living Bible, the Readers Digest Bible, the Berkley version, and on and on. Few people would use these “outdated” versions.

In spite of man’s best effort to confuse, destroy or deny the Word or commercialize it for profit the Word of God is still unchanged and will still be when publishing houses are torn down and replaced by drug stores.

Some other things that never change.

 Our sinful nature.

Ro 3:23 For all have sinned,

and come short of the glory of God;

Our need to recognize that Christ is the only way to God.

Joh 14:6 Jesus saith unto him,

I am the way, the truth, and the life:

 no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Our assurance that Christ has made us acceptable to God.

Eph 1:6 To the praise of the glory of his grace,

wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.

For our meditation today let us think about all that will never change.

Jas 1:7 Every good gift and every perfect gift

is from above, and cometh down from

the Father of lights,

with whom is no variableness,

neither shadow of turning.