Two weeks ago the opening round of the NFL playoffs provided the perfect canvas to present the idea of The Oddity of Circumstance? In what appeared to be the “random” event of every visiting team winning (a NFL first) was corrected, this past week, with every home team winning the following round. It was as if the anomaly of chance and circumstances transitioned into a scenario of what was supposed to happen all along.
There is nothing odd in circumstance because all circumstances have the unique ability to trigger transition and everyone is need of change at some point in time. Most people like the idea of change but seldom are they truly open to what change will really do to their status quo. For example, we would gladly welcome a positive change in our financial circumstances; but nobody would want a change, for the worse, in their health. Obviously everyone wants a change for the better but it is also in how we presently view any circumstance do we color the seasons of transition as “good” or “bad.”
“For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.” – Steve Jobs
At some point your life will require a series of circumstances, to occur, that will initiate a season of transition and eventual change. We have all looked in the mirror and said, Today will be different…it needs to be; but just when we are prepared to break from our established mold we discover the familiar patterns and mindsets are to entrenched to break free.
George Bernard Shaw said, “Progress is impossible without change, and those who cannot change their minds cannot change anything.” Shaw’s changing of the mind is what needs to be challenged and it is during the moments of circumstance God initiates a transition that, if followed through to the end, will lead to a necessary and lasting change for God’s best.
Consider the life of Abraham, before he was father of our great faith, the intercessor for his nephew Lot or even the man of Mt. Sinai; Abraham was first Abram. Remarkably it is in what we learn about Abram that helps us discover a pattern for every man and woman. Stephen (see Acts 7) fills in the “missing history” of Abram’s Genesis calling and the unfolding of a man who had “the right kind of God stuff.” But Abram was also a man of his age, culture and un-renewed mind every bit trapped by his circumstance, as you and I, until God initiated seasons of transition.
Genesis recounts the story of God’s invitation for Abram to join in covenant, with God, and even after his initial agreement it still took over twenty years for Abram to first settle in Canaan. Why did it take Abram so long to travel from Ur to Canaan with temporary stops in Paddam-Aram (Haran) and Egypt? I would suggest God knew the life that was familiar and acceptable to Abram required a series of circumstances and transitions to prepare Abram for the future calling of Abraham.
While Abram is a derivative of the name Abraham the two names carry very different weight, authority and promise. Originally the name of this patriarch was Abram (Heb. ˒aḇrām; e.g., Gen. 11:26; 12:1), but God subsequently changed it to Abraham (Heb. ˒aḇrāhām). According to Gen. 17:5 the latter name is composed of Heb. ˓aḇ “father” and hmn “multitude,” thus meaning “father of a multitude.” As a variant Abram can signify “love of the father, he is of good ancestry” or simply “exalted father” (Clements, pp. 52–53); but Abram was not the best name for a man who was the father of many nations.
From Abram’s family upbringing, culture, way of life, obligations, personal wealth and comfort it would have been next to impossible for Abram to carry his part of the covenant agreement unless God allowed circumstances to push Abram into seasons of transition. Here is a simple, yet brief, outline of Abram’s early transitions and major life changes.
- Leaves Ur due to the political and economic stresses caused by the Amorites and Elamites.
- Settles in Paddan Aram with wife, brother (Nahor) and father Terah.
- Following the death of Terah, Abram becomes the patriarch of his family and departs for Canaan.
- Settles in Canaan with his family and nephew Lot but famine drives them further south into Egypt.
- Forced by Pharaoh to leave Egypt Abram re-enters Canaan and after a dispute with Lot, a war in the region surrounding Sodom and the birth of Ishmael he will be given his new name, Abraham.
It would be easy for most to quickly move from Abram to Abraham or from Ur to Canaan without considering all of the transitions and changes God allowed to refine a man who established generations of God’s covenant people. Still we can’t gloss over how difficult every transition and change must have been for Abram along the way; as well as what each transition did in shaping the man. CS Lewis said, “It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad.” For change to occur we need to be willing to be hatched or risk going bad; and that is why God will always use circumstances to encourage us in the pursuit of His will and purposes.
It should come as no surprise that growing up in the Boston area has made me a dedicated New England Patriots fan and so this weekend I will be fixed on the game hoping “my team” will have another chance at winning the Superbowl. But I also know a game, on paper, is very different than a game t
hat must be played. An entire week of experts picking their winners and fans best guesses will boil down to a game that still must be played out and rest assured there will be some series of circumstance(s) players and teams will have to overcome if they want to emerge victorious. Circumstance will always initiate a transition and it is my prayer we all remain open to the changes that follow. “To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.” – Winston Churchill.
As I close today’s post I want to leave you with a short story that I feel best illustrates the this point:
In ancient times, a king had a boulder placed on a roadway. Then he hid himself and watched to see if anyone would remove the huge rock. Some of the king’s wealthiest merchants and courtiers came by and simply walked around it. Many loudly blamed the king for not keeping the roads clear, but none did anything about getting the big stone out of the way. Then a peasant came along carrying a load of vegetables. On approaching the boulder, the peasant laid down his burden and tried to move the stone to the side of the road. After much pushing and straining, he finally succeeded. As the peasant picked up his load of vegetables, he noticed a purse lying in the road where the boulder had been. The purse contained many gold coins and a note from the king indicating that the gold was for the person who removed the boulder from the roadway. The peasant learned what many others never understand. Every obstacle (circumstance) presents an opportunity to improve one’s condition or change.
Blessings – Pastor JOSHUA
“Everyone thinks of changing the world, but no one thinks of changing himself.” – Leo Tolstoy
1 “Everything has its own time, and there is a specific time for every activity under heaven:
2 a time to be born and
a time to die,
a time to plant and
a time to pull out what was planted,
3 a time to kill and
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a time to heal,
a time to tear down and
a time to build up,
4 a time to cry and
a time to laugh,
a time to mourn and
a time to dance,
5 a time to scatter stones and
a time to gather them,
a time to hug and
a time to stop hugging,
6 a time to start looking and
a time to stop looking,
a time to keep and
a time to throw away,
7 a time to tear apart and
a time to sew together,
a time to keep quiet and
a time to speak out,
8 a time to love and
a time to hate,
a time for war and
a time for peace.”[1]
[1] GOD’S WORD Translation. (1995). (Ec 3:1–8). Grand Rapids: Baker Publishing Group.
