him; do not be afraid of him.” (II Kings 1:15 ESV)
Change can be scary. Not necessarily changing the sheets, changing the oil, or changing the water in your water bottle… but change that involves realizing you had been wrong, and need a new path.
The King of Israel had gone to false gods to get advice and help. And Elijah was appropriately not happy about it. The King had rejected Jahweh. But the help from the false gods never materialized.
So the King turned to the One True God. And that effected Elijah.
At first, Elijah wouldn’t even meet with the King. Elijah made strong statements in effect saying, “I’ll die before I meet with you, oh Evil King.” Today, Elijah might have written angry, condemning, absolute statements on Facebook… or Twitter… or in a blog.
And Elijah would have been correct.
But then God wanted Elijah to meet with the King, after all.
Elijah had to go against his previous statements. He had to walk back from his absolutes. “Never” became “tomorrow.” And that is a scary thing to have to do.
We don’t readily do it. We don’t often do it. Change is scary.
But an angel told Elijah to do it, and not to be afraid. The angel told Elijah that the King, or the King’s opinion, or PUBLIC opinion didn’t play into it.
Elijah’s position had to change. And no matter how scary, Elijah had to swallow hard… gird up his loins… and do what God wanted, now that Elijah had discovered what it was.
Because what matters is GOD’S position… not our position.
Our fear of that kind of change is what makes it hard for us to publicly forgive. Our fear of that kind of change is what makes it hard for us to change life directions, careers, friends, or political views. Our fear of that kind of change is what makes us rarely say, “I was wrong.”
But the things we are afraid of (the opinion of others, effects of our new direction, or the effort involved) don’t play into it.
When God says to do something, do it. Even if it is new. Even if it is different. Even if it is hard.
Let God’s Word guide you, EVEN to change.
Fear not, because change isn’t bad.