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September! Ready or not, here it comes…. For some of us, September is a welcome change; for others of us, the arrival of fall means unwelcome schedules and pressures. Welcome or not, the changing of seasons is a reminder that our lives are punctuated by times of transition.
There is no doubt that we are created in the context of rhythms: In the beginning, God created the light and separated it from the darkness, creating day and night. The seasons reflect the ebb and flow of life on a planet created to teem with life. And when the LORD created man and woman in His image, to exercise sovereignty over His glorious creation, times of work and times of rest certainly came with the territory, eventually becoming the Sabbath. Our brains welcome both the variety and predictability that come with these rhythms.
But with the fall came a broken creation, and while rhythms remain, living as fallen creatures in a fallen world means that the rhythms of our lives are punctuated with transitions that often offer a mix of blessing and challenge. Research has shown that even the happiest of transitions—marriage, a move to a desired new home, starting at the college of choice, a wonderful new job—are associated with significant stress. The fear and shame that Adam and Eve encountered as soon as they took the forbidden fruit has become part of our spiritual DNA. “Am I good enough?” “Do I really belong here?” “Can I make this work?” “What if they don’t like me?”
It can be difficult to embrace the opportunities represented by a time of transition when those opportunities are conjoined with unforeseen challenges and pitfalls. But there is value in the humble acknowledgement that we don’t have complete control of our situation and circumstances. That humble acknowledgement becomes an earnest invitation from the Lord to seek His face and His presence in our lives.
King David comes to mind as an excellent model for us to consider. Scripture is quite clear that David was a fallen creature, subject to his own dysfunctional strategies for dealing with fear and shame. But he was also a man after God’s own heart! After being anointed King of Israel by Samuel, David spends the better part of the next ten years not on the throne but battling Philistines and hiding in the wilderness from King Saul who is determined to murder him. These are the hardest of times, unanticipated transitions and undeserved trials. Many of David’s Psalms include the complaints and pleas that David brought before the Lord. But invariably these Psalms of suffering conclude with the acknowledgement of and praise for a good and mighty God.
In the book of I Samuel, we read about David’s faithful habit of seeking the Lord before choosing a path or direction. And even when David becomes King of Israel, he continues to seek the LORD before continuing to battle the Philistines. One of my favorite pieces of Israelite history is the account recorded in II Samuel 7:8-29. Nathan the prophet comes to the newly crowned King David with a message from the LORD, proclaiming the LORD’s covenant with David and promising David His protection and blessing. This highlights and underscores David’s transition from being a fugitive struggling to survive in the wilderness to the King of Israel under the protection of God Almighty. And David’s response? He does not walk out the door and stride through the streets, surveying his realm. Instead, he sits before the LORD, questioning his worth before His Creator and extolling the goodness and greatness of the One who has blessed him so richly.
To be sure, King David lived a long time ago, in a culture quite foreign to us. But the LORD God is eternal, the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. We would do well to follow David in seeking the Lord at all times and especially in times of transition. May we do so for our good and His glory!
Now, O Lord GOD, You are God, and Your words are truth, and You have promised this good thing to Your servant. Now therefore, may it please You to bless the house of Your servant, that it may continue forever before You. For You, O Lord GOD, have spoken; and with Your blessing may the house of Your servant be blessed forever. II Samuel 7:28-29
