God’s Changes!

(Illustration from: www.arttoself.com).

2 Kings 18:1-4
Now it came to pass in the third year of Hoshea the son of Elah, king of Israel, that Hezekiah the son of Ahaz, king of Judah, began to reign.

3 And he did what was right in the sight of the Lord, according to all that his father David had done.

4 He removed the high places and broke the sacred pillars, cut down the wooden image and broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made; for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.  (NKJV) Emphasis mine.

By discussing God’s Changes, I am in no way inferring that God changes. We know emphatically that He does not!  (Malachi 3:6 For I am the Lord, I do not change.  NKJV).

God’s nature, character, His love, mercy, justice, majesty, glory, and who He is, has never and will never change. “GOD”, never changes.

The changes I have been thinking about lately have stemmed from the Scripture about Hezekiah, particularly, “… broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made …” (2 Kings 18:4 NKJV).

This is very interesting.  The snake that Moses had made, under the direction of the Lord, Hezekiah broke.  The very thing that God told Moses to do, Hezekiah had to undo.

Numbers 21:8-9
8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent, and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked at the bronze serpent, he lived.  (NKJV).

Here we have the people of Israel getting discouraged.  They speak against God and Moses.  God sends fiery serpents among them and some die as a result of being bitten.  The people repent, Moses prays for the people, and makes a serpent so that when the people look at that serpent on a pole, they were healed!

That became the method, the process for the people to live and be healed of the serpent bites.

However — people being people — they began to worship the bronze serpent.

“ … for until those days the children of Israel burned incense to it, and called it Nehushtan.” (2 Kings 18:4  NKJV)

Yesterday’s answer became today’s problem.  Yesterday’s process became todays predicament.

The very thing that brought deliverance and healing to the people, was now an issue.  Something had to change.  This is one of God’s changes.

Are there things in our lives which we do, things that we know God has led us into, and which proved fruitful and productive for that time, but which are now not working?  Has some plan, process, or program had its day, and its season is now over?  Is there a change God would bring to us to move us on to the next phase of life?

As Marshall Goldsmith says, “What got you here won’t get you there.”

We read of an interesting account King David changing tactics for battle.

1 Chronicles 14:8-11
8 Now when the Philistines heard that David had been anointed king over all Israel, all the Philistines went up to search for David. And David heard of it and went out against them. 9 Then the Philistines went and made a raid on the Valley of Rephaim. 10 And David inquired of God, saying, “Shall I go up against the Philistines? Will You deliver them into my hand?”

The Lord said to him, “Go up, for I will deliver them into your hand.”

11 So they went up to Baal Perazim, and David defeated them there. Then David said, “God has broken through my enemies by my hand like a breakthrough of water.” Therefore they called the name of that place Baal Perazim.  (NKJV).

In this battle the Lord instructed David to “… go up …”, in other words go straight at them.  Form normal battle lines.

But for the second battle the tactic was different.

1 Chronicles 14:13-16
13 Then the Philistines once again made a raid on the valley. 14 Therefore David inquired again of God, and God said to him, “You shall not go up after them; circle around them, and come upon them in front of the mulberry trees. 15 And it shall be, when you hear a sound of marching in the tops of the mulberry trees, then you shall go out to battle, for God has gone out before you to strike the camp of the Philistines.” 16 So David did as God commanded him, and they drove back the army of the Philistines from Gibeon as far as Gezer.  (NKJV).

David again wisely asked God for the strategy, the method, the process, and God says to do it differently.  The same goal — defeat the enemy — but a different process.

This time he was to “… circle around them …”.  Another of God’s changes.

Jeff Bezos, the founder, chairman, and chief executive officer of Amazon.com, says this, “We are stubborn on vision. We are flexible on details.”

There’s a problem when we become stubborn on the details.  Fixated on one method.  Stuck in one process.

A God-given vision is such a powerful thing, one we must hang on to and be stubborn about.  However, the process, the pathway, the means of working towards that vision can change from time to time.  It is wisdom to seek God and remain flexible about the changes He might bring to the pathway.

Let’s make space for the new good stuff.  Let’s not worship the object of deliverance, but worship the Deliverer instead.