Change Is Scary - The Crosswalk Devotional - June 7

Change Is Scary But the Lord Is with You
By Clarence L. Haynes Jr.

“The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.” – Deuteronomy 31:8

If you are going to be honest, change can be scary. It is scary to leave a job and start a new one. It can be scary to leave your hometown and move to another one. It can be scary to start a new relationship, business, or ministry. If you want to talk about scary how about getting married and starting your own family. All these things have the potential to cause fear, anxiety, worry, or concern. Here is the good news for today; they don’t have to.

We often approach life in the moment. What I mean is we deal with the issues as they are happening. While we may have prepared to some degree, it is not until you are in the moment that you can truly deal with what you are facing. I got married in 2011 and seven months later I was laid off from a job and shortly thereafter I discovered my wife was pregnant. That’s an exciting first year of marriage. Part of the concern of getting laid off was medical benefits because I also have a son who has had an extensive history of medical issues, among them he is an 11-year leukemia survivor. I mention this to give God glory but to also know I remember how expensive his hospital stays were. These were some of my concerns as I was facing this life moment. However, here is the beauty of the story and the promise of this verse. In Deuteronomy we are told that the Lord himself goes before you. To understand the breadth of that statement, think of it in this light. Before you ever get to the situation in life you are about to face, God has already walked into it. Before you arrive, he has already worked it out. So much of life is unknown and this can cause fear and panic, however, God has already addressed your tomorrow and has made provision for it.

Let me show you how God did this in my situation. This will be the shortened version. When I got laid off in July my prior company offered to pay my health benefits until the end of September, as part of the severance package. Losing this job put me back in the job market. As I began looking, I saw an opportunity that I really felt would be a good fit for me and I decided to interview for it. In the shortened version of this story, I got the job. One day I will fill you in on all the other exciting details that led to this hiring. For now, in light of this verse, here is how God had gone before me.

The company had already hired four other people for this position back in June. The owner of the company decided that he wanted to hire four more people, so they posted the job right around the time I was laid off and was beginning to look. By the way, had I not been laid off I probably would not have been looking for a job at that time. They interviewed a few people for the position, and they decided to only hire one more person, and I was that one. That is not the end of the story because remember one of my biggest concerns was medical benefits. I got hired in September. The benefits from my severance ended September 30 and the benefits for my new company started October 1. I did not miss one day and that is simply for one reason. The Lord himself had gone before me and prepared a way.

As you face the unknown in your life and things happen that catch you off guard, please know today these things have not caught God by surprise. He has already gone into your tomorrow, made a way and provision for it and he is waiting for you to arrive. Perhaps the best part of it all is the rest of this verse in Deuteronomy, he will be with you. He doesn’t just go before you and prepare for your tomorrow; he walks with you into it. He is walking with you now and is walking ahead of you into your future. Whether it is today or tomorrow he will be with you and will never leave you or forsake you.

Intersecting Faith and Life:
You never have to be afraid of what tomorrow holds because you know the One who holds tomorrow. Focus your attention on trusting God today and allow him to take care of all the other details.

Further Reading:

Clarence L. Haynes Jr. is a speaker, Bible teacher, and co-founder of The Bible Study Club. He is the author of The Pursuit of Purpose which will help you understand how God leads you into his will. His most recent book is The Pursuit of Victory: How To Conquer Your Greatest Challenges and Win In Your Christian Life. This book will teach you how to put the pieces together so you can live a victorious Christian life and finally become the man or woman of God that you truly desire to be. Clarence is also committed to helping 10,000 people learn how to study the Bible and has just released his first Bible study course called Bible Study Basics. To learn more about his ministry please visit clarencehaynes.com.