CHANGING SEASONS, UNCHANGING GOD

I love this time of year. I may be ‘a lifelong possessor of minority opinions’, but autumn is my favourite season. When the weather turns and the cooler days are upon us, we can really begin to rug up or light the fire. The leaves are well into their changes, and all the colours are full of the promise of a wonderful winter ahead…another of my minority views! Autumn is the season when we really see and feel change. 

I think autumn also stands as a yearly reminder of our own impermanence; as seasons come and pass, we are reminded that we are changable, limited beings. As teachers and parents, we watch our students grow and mature - and watch ourselves do the same (though perhaps with more mixed feelings about that process!).

However, for me, autumn is also a reminder that while the seasons change, and we change, God never does. He is the unchanging God!  A man you may have heard of called Moses learned this when God appeared to him in the burning bush - ‘I am who I am’ (Exodus 3:12), God called Himself. No beginning, no ending, He just is. Later on in the Bible, there is a statement, ‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’ (Hebrews 13:8). 

What’s so special about that? Well, for one thing, it raises the bar on the idea of reliability, doesn’t it? We all have family and friends whom we trust and depend on. But, like us, they might make mistakes, or things will change, and we’re not so close to them anymore. God’s not like that - His faithfulness is unchanging. As is His love and care for us: ‘His compassions never fail…they are new every morning’ (Lamentations 3:22-23). Days come and go, like the seasons, but God’s compassion - His heart towards us - is unfailing. 

So what? Well, at least one thing - God’s worth trusting. “I know whom I have believed, and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him” (2 Timothy 1:12). The apostle Paul wrote these words while locked in prison, but he had hope. He had trusted God with his life and soul because he knew that an unchanging God was able to keep and guard them forever. 

We can do that too - because He’s really worth trusting.