Change Is Near To Impossible

“But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10 AV)

This should be the heartbeat of every saint!  The transformation process if often difficult.  For Job, it was near to impossible.  The LORD exacted of him a cost he thought he could never pay.  Yet the grace of God saw him through it.  On the other side, Job was changed into a person he had never been before.  This is his hope!  When life doesn’t make sense, we can have faith the LORD has allowed or caused events that we might be a different person on the other side of the trial.  We may not even be aware of what needs to be changed or what had changed until the trial come to fruition.  Job didn’t need that.  At least not in this statement.  This verse should have been the end of Job’s words.  This is the conclusion of the whole matter and the only thing that does matter!  Change!

As a pastor, I am puzzled at times with those who claim the name of Christ, yet seek no change.  They are the Peter Pans of the church.  They simply do not want to spiritually mature.  When difficult times arrive, the ride it out and then wonder what just happened.  A basic human desire is to grow and mature.  Every child wants to grow up.  They want to get older.  The same should be the natural desire of the child of God.  Growth and maturity.

One must admit, some of the greatest times of growth have also been the hardest times of life.  This is the way of the LORD!  Advice I give to young pastors who are seeking the LORD’s leading in ministry, I tell them it is like marriage.  Your job is to change them into what Christ would have them to be, but God will use them to change you.  It is just as much about the preacher’s maturity as it is the people’s. 

The hardest of all is welcoming and internalizing these events so they might change us.  Job didn’t really have a choice.  He could not run from losing all his children.  He couldn’t run from losing all his wealth.  His poor health would follow him no matter where he ran to.  There was nothing he could do about his situation.  These trials are often the best ones to go through.  Welcome them.  Endure through them.  Allow the Spirit to permanently change you by them.