The Challenge of Change - Martin Wiles

Then the Lord said to Moses, “The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present yourselves at the Tabernacle,^[a] so that I may commission him there.” Deuteronomy 31:14 NLT

She was my immediate supervisor; then, suddenly, I was hers.

I worked at a county courthouse for an unpredictable boss. One day, she called me into her office and told me to shut the door. Various thoughts ran through my mind. What had I done to make her mad? Was she about to fire me?

None of my fear materialized. “I’m going to promote you to supervisor,” she said.

“But what about _______?” I asked.

“I’ll straighten it out with her,” she said.

And she did, but not really. The woman who had once supervised me didn’t take the news so well. But because of her mild-mannered nature, she did better than most would have. Others may have walked out and quit—or treated me harshly. She didn’t. But my promotion strained our relationship.

One day, when she couldn’t take it any longer, she asked, “Did you ask for that promotion?” I assured her I hadn’t. I had been as surprised as she. After my assurance, our relationship returned to normal, and we remain friends until this day.

Change is rarely easy, convenient, or comfortable. I’m sure it wasn’t for God’s Old Testament people. Moses had led them for forty years. They were accustomed to his ways of doing things … his reactions … his mannerisms. But the time for him to die had arrived, and God appointed Joshua as the new leader. Although he had worked with Moses, he wasn’t Moses. Things would differ—at least in some respects.

If change occurs at our place of employment, and we suddenly find ourselves responsible to a new person who does things differently, our job is to be the best employee we can and to adapt with kindness and obedience. If we can’t, we should look for somewhere else to work rather than disrupt the harmony in the workplace. Our testimony for Christ is at stake.

Whether we like our new leader or not isn’t the issue. As a believer, we should treat them with kindness and love. Christ wants this from us.

And when other unwanted changes occur, we must accept them as God’s will. He controls all, and for some reason, He has brought—or at least allowed—the changes. With His guidance and strength, we can persevere through the change.

Don’t let change rattle you. Whatever the circumstances, God can help you through.

Prayer: Father, we trust You to carry us through life’s changes and to help us have the right attitude as we face them.

Tweetable: How are you facing the challenge of change? 

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