Unsettling Change

“And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees: that say in their heart, The LORD will not do good, neither will he do evil.” (Zep 1:12 AV)

There is a danger in complacency.  Not many people enjoy change.  There are few that look forward to it.  Staying still is not in their blood.  They love things to be different.  But most do not like change.  Once we get into a pattern, that is where we like to stay.  Lees are the solid residue in the process of making wine.  The grapes are compressed and the juice is extracted.  But with this compression there are solids that make it through the filtering process.  These are removed by allowing the wine to sit still and allow the lees to settle in the bottom.  Then, the wine is poured into a new bottle where it remains unturned.  The remaining lees settle in the bottom, then it is poured out again.  This process is repeated until the vast majority of the lees are abandoned.  The change here is the wine removing from one place to another.  Settling on one’s lees is refusing to be removed from one’s comfort zone to a new set of circumstances.

I used to be a serious home body.  As a child, we camped out a lot.  Partly because of our involvement in Boy Scouts.  And partly because my father enjoyed camping to the fullest.  As a younger child, I enjoyed camping immensely.  When I went into my teenage years, not so much.  The thought of sleeping without heat on the ground of a damp campground was not my idea of fun.  Fighting off the consequences of adverse weather was not the challenge I would be looming for.  It got to the point that when we would leave for a trip, I would count down the days until I would be back in my warm bed looking forward to a hot shower.  I didn’t like change.  Even in my young adult life, I didn’t like change.  Three children and a wife were change enough for me.

Something happened along life’s journey.  Change became something I looked forward to.  Working in a factory cured me of my dislike to change.  Doing the same thing day in and day out without and change is rather boring.  It is maddening.  There would be days that I prayed for something to break just so that the day would not drag on.  When the LORD finally opened the door for full time ministry, the growth process was still the same.  The demands on one’s time is something to which one must adjust.  At first, we may not enjoy such demands.  But then a funny thing happens.  If there are not problems to solve, we realize we are not growing.

Our pews are filling with people who do not like change.  They sit the same pew week after week, month after month, year after year.  If a visitor sat in their pew, they wouldn’t know what to do.  It would throw them off for the entire service.  If asked to serve in a ministry which they had never done before, they would reject it out of hand.  We are the people that never go to the altar.  We are the people who haven’t done serious study of the word of God for preparation to feed another.  We have plugged in to the autopilot.  Even though God’s work is done, it is done in the flesh and not in the Spirit.  This is why the LORD will judge Judah.  Their refusal to change and simply keep the status quo is not pleasing in the sight of God.  Change and growth is what life is all about.  If we are not changing, we are not growing.  If we are not growing, we are not living.  If we are not living, there is no reason to continue taking up space in God’s plan.