Sometimes during our experiences, we have interactions that bring things vividly into focus and help re-align our thinking to a more correct viewpoint. Today I visited with a man while we both waited at the tire shop. During the course of our conversation, he shared with me that he had lost his wife of 39 years to cancer a little over a year ago. They were high school sweethearts, and raised their three boys who are now all grown. While he had retired, he picked up working again to try to drive away the depression that he felt after losing his mate. While the activity helped, he showed great faith by expressing to me that what helped more than anything was to realize, “Through all the changes of life, I am still in an unchanging hand.” Spoiler alert: I’ve already logged the saying in my mental files and will use it in preaching going forward!
The conversation reminded me again of the Lord’s declaration that we are not consumed because He changes not. (Malachi 3:6) Thinking about the ramifications of that, our greatest fears, frets, and concerns should dry up thinking about an unchanging hand. He holds us there, He always has, and because of His constant character, He always will. No doubt, this man I visited with still has moments of loneliness and sorrow. His story reminded me of the loss of my father to cancer over 23 years ago. There are times when it seems a lifetime ago, and at others, it feels like yesterday. I have lost many other family members, friends, and acquaintances, and the feeling is the same: near and far away at the same time.
Loss is a part of life. Changes are the only natural constant that we really find. When looking at life under the sun in the book of Ecclesiastes, Solomon expressed that there is nothing new. The changes we think of as new have been happening and will continue happening as long as life continues here. If that is our only vantage point, we will find the conclusion that Solomon reached time and time again: vanity and vexation of spirit. Those constant changes can weigh us down, drag our spirits, and make our knees feeble. But looking at a constant, unchanging hand will cause us to look above the sun at the ultimate Son.
It is comforting to the disciple of the Lamb to know that loved ones lost is just for a while. We will see them again in glory, but what about the pain we feel today? What about the sorrow that can reach out and slap us when we least expect it? As the man described his wife and their life, many faces washed across the plane of my memory and the part of life I experienced with all of them. When he made his statement about God’s hand, scene after scene washed across my mental image of God’s love, providence, kind grace, and gentle patience with me. Why am I still here? Why when I’m no longer here will that not be the end? The fact that I am not consumed in life or death is simply because of His unchanging character and person.
The man’s parting words couldn’t have been more fitting: “God bless.” Yes, He has. He does, and He will continue to do so. Beloved, my mind was re-aligned and my spirit heartened in a tire shop today. Did I entertain an angel unawares? I don’t think so, but I believe the man had blessings through our interaction that angels bore from heaven itself. May it be our happy lot to bear blessings for others, help lift the spirit of God’s people above this natural plane, and whatever the changes of life may bring, may we have the courage of faith to not only say but also state with our actions that we are in His hand and have no fear of what life may bring.