Middle Ground - 2

August 15, 2011 Monday Message:

Most people don’t really welcome change — change in our lives, our personal and family situations, and for our discussion, change in our churches and our ministries. Things may not have always been the way they are now, but that situation changed quite some time ago and we’ve grown accustomed to the new status quo. We’re comfortable with the way things are. We don’t want to step out of our comfort zone and once again endure change.

But life’s journey is a series of God-directed transitions. Bert and Ernie teach a Sesame Street skit where they begin right “here” and need to get over “there.” The problem is that when they get “there,” that place becomes the new “here,” and “there” is a different place, another journey. In a weird Muppet way, you can’t get “there” from “here” — they’re trapped in perpetual transition. When Bert and Ernie think they’ve achieved their destination, they discover that someone has set a new, higher goal.

God is always taking us from “here” to “there.” Sometimes we resist the change, sometimes we drag our feet, but eventually we go in God’s direction. The Israelites didn’t like being slaves to the Egyptians, and constantly complained about the hard work. But after God and Moses told Pharaoh to, “Let My people go,” (quite a project!) the people persistently resisted the once-welcomed change. “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.” Exodus 16:3 NLT Manna, schmana.

If our focus is only on the transition, we might never take the first step out of our Egypt. Therefore the first step in our transitional journey is understanding why our present situation is unacceptable, how bad it would be to stay where we are. Equipped with a bleak picture of the present, it becomes unthinkable that we would not begin our journey through the Red Sea, into the new frontier that God has waiting for us.

Last week’s question: Why did the Israelites take such a convoluted route out of Egypt? Because “…they might change their minds and return to Egypt.” God knows best. Exodus 13:17b NLT

We’ll conclude our “Middle Ground” discussion next week.

Keep moving forward!

Norton Lawellin