Do you have a favorite restaurant? For me- The Cheesecake Factory makes it to one of the top three on my list. Their menu is a tad overwhelming, it’s literally a book! And don’t get me started on the four-page dessert menu. I have a sweet tooth… so it takes some time for me to decide which cheesecake I’ll try this time.
Most of us have probably been to a nice restaurant a time or two. And we know the protocols: first you are seated by a host, you order the drinks, awhile later everyone at the table orders their food, maybe your server refills your drinks, then your food is delivered to your table.
Wait- stop! The food you ordered is wrong. Something was not prepared correctly, a key ingredient you are allergic to was not removed from the dish, the food is cold, etc.
Ugh, it’s so frustrating! Your server is apologetic and physically upset (at the kitchen staff). Everyone else’s food is already at the table: hot, fresh out of the kitchen, and made perfectly to order. Meanwhile, your scrumptious meal has to be remade. The entire table politely waits for your new food to arrive, meanwhile their food is getting cold. You politely tell them to eat. Then, when your food finally arrives, most of the table is already done with their meal and is already looking at dessert menu.
I am guessing by now you have recalled a similar situation. Maybe it left a bad taste (literally) in your mouth? And maybe for some of you, you have yet to return to that restaurant we shall no longer speak of?
Well my friends, I am here to say that this experience is a lot like another life experience most of us dread… Change
You see, change is a lot like ordering food at a restaurant. We don’t mind the change, as long as it is something we have ordered off the menu. We don’t mind change, as long as we get what we are expecting.
But the moment we don’t get what we ordered… we are upset. We become irritated. We want to “speak to the manager” and complain.
Change is awkward. Change can be uncomfortable. Change can force us to get out of our comfort zone and try something new. Change means we might mess up. Change means we might actually fail. Change is hard!
Time and time again, we read scripture and learn of stories in the Bible where God makes a change for the good of his people. He made humble men kings, turned slaves free, allowed the underdogs to win the battle, and resurrected people from death to life.
But in those same moments, we also learn from the Bible that many people were upset about the change God had set on their path. They complain, whine, or downright feel that going back to slavery is their best option. They question, judge, or even turn their backs on God. Probably because the change they asked for, or prayed for, or the change that they expected isn’t what actually happened.
I believe that change can be a really good thing. I believe that the change God is doing in our lives might be the very set up for something even bigger (a miracle, a promotion, deliverance, or healing).
But that doesn’t mean it won’t be hard. That doesn’t mean that it is comfortable, comes naturally, or happens as quick as we had hoped.
Dear friends… whatever change is moving in or out of your life, I pray that you would take comfort in knowing God’s in it with you. Romans 12:2 says “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will”.
God’s will is always much greater than our own. His will over us is like a child holding a small bear in their arms, meanwhile God has a giant bear behind his back asking the child to exchange, to trust, and trade up. God’s will comes with gentle nudges, changes, unexpected circumstances that will produce more character in us, more perseverance in us, more hope in us, and ultimately stretch us to grow into the person we are meant to be.
God promises good things for us, grace over us, and eternal life for us. “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28).
But how will we respond? With grace? With hope? With determination? With humility? With prayer?
Or will we send it back? Because what we received wasn’t on the menu? Or not what we ordered?
The choice is yours ;)