Change Can Happen

The American people wanted change and change they received. However, change was not like change of the past (e.g. another Clinton or Bush in the White House). The political pundits and even some Black people months earlier predicted that this type of change was impossible. They said, “The country is not ready. He is not ready. It is not his turn.” However, God thought differently. God heard the cries of the people and created radical change through an improbable agent. God’s agent of change presented new faces, made audible new voices and declared a new era of politics. God’s agent of change called for a new era of leading and compassion. And he called for a new spirit of cooperation and sacrifice to rescue our country from political, moral and economic bondage.

However, as the euphoria of the inauguration faded and the reality of our global economic recession worsened (e.g. over 100,000 jobs lost in a week), the chants of “Yes, We Can!” are slowly being drowned out by the whispers of “Here We Go Again!” While the President campaigned for a new spirit of bipartisanship and change in Washington, the forces of complacency (protecting the status quo) and resistance to change (lobbyists, and partisan politics) are stubborn. And despite the President’s admonishment for change, we hear Democrats talk about spending our way to prosperity (e.g. The New Deal) and we hear Republicans advocate cutting taxes to ameliorate our economic woes ( e.g. Reaganomics). I guess old habits are hard to break and past glories are hard to forget. The same can be true for the children of Israel in Isaiah’s time.

Isaiah’s writings to the children of Israel came at a bleak period in their history. They were in captivity. They had lost everything they thought they would keep forever. They were nostalgic and homesick for the land and the blessing God had promised them. However, life does not happen the same way the second time. That is why God said to the Israelites, “Do not remember the former things or consider the things of old. I am about to do a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?” (Isaiah 43:18-19)

You cannot depend upon past glories to sustain you. The children of Israel remembered the victories that God had given them: the escape from Egypt, conquering the land of Canaan, surviving civil war. You remember how you lost 10 pounds on a Slim Fast diet. But as soon as you start eating food again, you gained that weight back plus more. Some victories in life are shallow attempts to fix deeply rooted problems. Unfortunately, until you deal with the real issues behind your emotional eating, you will never have victory over food.

You cannot allow your past failures to define you. God gave Israel signs of hope but they rejected them. God gave them the Temple but they worshipped idol gods. God gave them a king, but their kings lead the people astray. Nevertheless, God did not abandon them. Instead God gave them encouragement, “Do not remember the former things.” You cannot keep beating yourself up for failures and false starts. The past is the past. Make the commitment today to look forward and not to look back. God is about to do a new thing in your life.

You cannot live on yesterday’s faith. Israel’s spiritual faith was sufficient in the past but they needed a new faith, they needed a Savior (e.g. Jesus) to accomplish what God had envisioned for their future. The faith of your parents was good enough when you were a child. But you are all grown up now. It is time that you put aside childish ways. You need your own relationship with Jesus Christ. For when the winds of complacency and resistance to change come in your life, it will be through your relationship with Jesus Christ that you will have the strength to not give up, to not give in and to not give out until you get your breakthrough.

And finally, you cannot rely on obsolete strategies to solve your present problems. God painted a rainbow in the sky once as a sign of His covenant with humanity but when something more was needed He did not paint another rainbow. God did a new thing through Jesus Christ. Hallelujah! Now, we have more than a sign, we have a Savior. God is about to do a new thing in your life. God’s challenge to you is, “Do you not perceive it?” And more poignantly: “How bad do you want it? Change is hard. It does not come without commitment, sacrifice and dedication. But change in your life can happen. Don’t allow complacency to rob you of God’s promise.

Until next time...Love and Peace.