Change
"All the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come." Job 14:14
Change in a major motif among the suffering and the oppressed. I suspect that the hope that his condition could and would be changed is what kept Job alive during the dark midnight of his deep agony and excruciating losses. An old preacher used to tell us that it took a change to get us into our predicaments, and it would surely take a change to get us out of them. As Job discovered, the key to our victories in life is always connected to our willingness to wait until our change comes.
We've heard that the only constant in life is change, but change itself is not inevitable. Someone has to want it and see it. Someone has to pray for it and work for it. Someone has to anticipate it, and plan for it, and understand it, and recognize it, and define it, and adjust to it. Waiting for change is by no means passive.
The Mahatma Ghandi challenges us to "be the change that we wish to see in the world." In our living embodiment of the change we want to see, we become the active agents of its realization. The moment that we become dedicated to change is the moment that change begins. True change always happens from the inside out. And true change always begins with the person who wants to see change happen.
In his beloved rhapsody of change, Sam Cook sings:
"I was born by the river, in a little tent. Oh and just like the river I've been runnin' ever since. It's been a long, a long time comin', but I know a change gon' come. Oh yes it will!"
If you've ever heard Sam Cook sing that song, you are convinced that the person heralding the coming of change in the song has already been changed. He is not just passively hoping for change. He is giving passionate presence and passionate impetus to the change he wants to see. And by the transformation that can only be generated by the shear force of transformed soul power, we are all convicted, converted and convinced that "change gon' come. Yes it will!"
Lord, please allow the changes that we want to see, be seen in us. Amen.
Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, UCC, Stone Mountain, Georgia.
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