Stephen
Terry, Director
Preparing
for Change
Commentary
for the April 20, 2019 Sabbath School Lesson
“When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a
child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of
childhood behind me.” 1 Corinthians 13:11,
NIV
Shortly after the middle of the seventeenth century,
following the death of his chief minister, Cardinal Mazarin, King Louis XIV was
invited to a party in his honor at the residence of his chief finance minister,
the Marquis de Belle-Isle. Warned that the Marquis was embezzling funds from
the royal treasury, he was taken aback at that lavish residence, Vaux-le-Vicomte,
discovering far more luxury than even he, as king, enjoyed. Louis decided to be
his own chief minister and soon had the Marquis arrested and imprisoned. Then
turning to his own property at Versailles, he began a monumental construction
campaign to outdo what he had seen at Vaux-le-Vicomte, partly financed and
furnished with treasures plundered from that chateau. Not only did he sack
Vaux-le-Vicomte, he also brought the architect who designed that property,
Louis Le Vau, into his service at Versailles. Louis XIV, who became known as “The
Sun King,” went on to achieve fame and power that perhaps in some ways equaled
that of long-dead Charlemagne. One of the notable features of the new enlarged
and enhanced chateau at Versailles was the keystone reliefs over the windows. They
depicted the progress of man from childhood to old age with seven images, the
first and the last shown in our illustration with this commentary.[i]
Like those images on the Sun King’s palace, we pass
through several stages in life. We are born as babes, wholly dependent on
others for our survival. We learn to walk and talk and how to exert some
limited control over our world and often keenly look forward to entering kindergarten
and elementary school. IN school, our world expands beyond our immediate family
and we are challenged to live in a world where our will must be adjusted to accommodate
the will of those who are not family. Of course some of that has possibly
happened before on playdates with friends, but our parents were always there to
bail us out if things spiraled out of control. In school, that safety net is
gone, replaced by a teacher, who likely has too many children to monitor to
give us the level of personal engagement we have been used to from Mom and Dad.
How we deal with this change can shape our tools for dealing with future changes.
If family has prepared us for change by introducing other changes and helping
us to work through them, we may sail through with little conflict or distress.
But if our parents have had difficulty facing change themselves, we may instead
learn dysfunctional ways of dealing with it such as tantrums and acting out. The
principles of our Christian faith can help us to discover some effective means
for dealing with change. The Bible instructs us on this, both through good examples
and also through allowing us to vicariously experience the results of less
helpful responses to change.
A good example from Genesis about facing change would be
Joseph.[ii] Favored by his father,
Jacob, his jealous brothers sold him into slavery. His life changed in a
moment. He went from being favored by his wealthy father and being trusted with
responsibility to experiencing the life of a slave in a foreign land, Egypt.
Nonetheless, the faith in God he received from his parents gave him a
foundation to navigate the changes he was facing. As a result God blessed him
and he earned the favor of his master, Potiphar. But when he refused to engage
in sexual intercourse with his master’s wife when she demanded it, he was faced
not only with a personally threatening change but a challenge to the paradigm
of faith he had been relying on. As vengeance for his refusal, she accused him
of sexual assault, and Potiphar had little choice but to put him in prison if
he was to placate her. After all, even a wife in a male-dominated society has
more status than a mere slave. Slaves were expendable and were at times killed
for trifles. Wondrously, Joseph’s life was spared. Perhaps he was shown mercy
by Potiphar for his past faithful service. When we walk faithfully before God,
we may enjoy special protections we may not even be aware of except in
hindsight. Joseph continued to trust in the principles of God’s leading even
while imprisoned falsely. It is interesting to note that Joseph did not even
have a Bible to guide him, for the first books of what we now know as the Bible
had not even been written yet. If we go by the account in Exodus, those books
would not be written for over four more centuries.[iii] How many of us in our
day, even possessing Bibles, are struggling to achieve the level of
faithfulness that Joseph reached? His life is testament to the effectiveness
and power of faithful parents instilling in their children, through lesson and
example, a firm moral foundation that will sustain them when faced with challenges
that pop up without notice, spinning one’s life off in a completely unexpected
direction. This is not simply about having rules and demanding obedience. One
could program a robot to do that. It is about instilling an ability to discern
what choices we should make based on long term goals rather than simply only
seeking immediate gratification. The former, put Joseph on a collision course
with Potiphar’s wife, but had he given in to the latter, her desire for
immediate gratification, and done the same, we probably would never have heard
of him again, just as we have no idea whatever became of her.
Although Joseph spent years in prison, he did not waiver
in his faith and commitment. Eventually, like Daniel experienced centuries
later, he was called upon to interpret a dream for the ruler of the country. As
a result of his interpretation, Joseph, also like Daniel, was elevated to a
position of honor in the country of his captivity far above his former status
as a slave. This is the lesson the Bible often teaches about faith. If we
remain faithful and continue to trust in God’s overall influence in our lives,
we may have opportunity to walk on the high places of the earth, glorifying God
through the example of our faith-filled lives. Some may feel that our ability
to wield the Bible like a sword in battle against the enemy, thrusting with powerful,
pointed proof texts is what makes a Christian. However, Joseph had no proof
texts because he had no Bible. His faith was demonstrated not by how much Bible
he could quote, but by how he lived his life. He not only persevered faithfully
in the face of adversity, but he continued to show compassion and concern for
others, even those who were prisoners like himself. Then because it was who he
was, when he was elevated to a position of authority, he did all he could to
set aside enough stores to see the entire nation safely through a natural
disaster that God had revealed to him would occur.
Another example of dealing with change, a bad one, can
also be found in Genesis.[iv] Cain and Abel were
brothers. Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer. Both brought what they
produced to God as offerings. Perhaps Abel understood that the offering was
type for the eventual coming of the antitypical Messiah who would shed his
blood on behalf of mankind, so he slew a lamb to demonstrate that without the
shedding of blood there can be no remission of sins.[v] Cain’s offering of
vegetables could not fulfill that connection between type and antitype and so
was not acceptable. God pointed out to him that he needed to change what he was
doing. He could have done so perhaps by exchanging some of his produce with his
brother for a lamb to sacrifice, but instead he chose to kill his brother in
jealousy for his closeness with God, a closeness that God revealed he also could
enjoy if he embraced change. In order to help us understand the importance of
the choices we make, both good and bad, the Bible does not whitewash its
narrative with only good examples. Since we make bad choices as well as good
ones in life, the Bible is a valuable tool for seeing the results of some bad
choices, as it does with Cain, without our having to experience the results personally
in order to learn. But the lesson may be lost on some. No matter how many times
we may be told that sticking a fork in a wall socket is not a good idea, some
of us still have to learn the hard way with a spark and a buzz that makes us
briefly “dance with the devil.” Fortunately, as God revealed to Cain if we are
willing to embrace change and choose a more healthy direction for our lives, he
is willing to guide our steps and as he did with Joseph, provide a foundation
making it possible for us to achieve a better end than we might have imagined.
Who could better help us navigate those challenging changes we all face than
the one who brought us life, both initially and through the cross on Calvary. That’s
a life coach worth listening to.
