Find Stability in Changing Times - The Crosswalk Devotional - September 2

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Find Stability in Changing Times
By: Whitney Hopler

Bible Reading:
“And he will be the stability of your times, abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge; the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.” – Isaiah 33:6, ESV

Right now, I’m leading a project at work to increase the visibility of our university center’s website content in artificial intelligence search results. For years, my focus was on traditional SEO – optimizing our pages for classic search engines. While those traditional methods are still important, we’re currently living through a massive communications revolution. People are moving away from traditional online search. They’re increasingly using AI tools to find online content. Being on the cutting edge of change is exciting, but it’s also stressful. The best practices for AI visibility are evolving as AI evolves, so my team and I must adapt to constant change. While I lead this effort, I’m grateful to God for being my stability. I know I can always rely on God’s unchanging strength to help me with whatever I need in these rapidly changing times.

What kind of changes are you dealing with in your own life right now? Maybe you’re going through a change at work, in your relationships, or with something else that’s important to you. Even dealing with all the uncertainty of events in the news can be stressful. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed when you’re dealing with lots of change happening around you. But you don’t need to worry about whether or not you’ll be able to manage change well if you rely on God as your source of stability.

Isaiah 33:6 promises that God himself will be your stability in your changing times. When everything around you seems uncertain, God remains completely reliable. This verse also describes how God will give you stability by providing an “abundance of salvation, wisdom, and knowledge.” If you look to the world for answers in changing times, you’ll often find conflicting opinions and panic. But if you look to the Lord, he will generously pour out the wisdom and knowledge you need to manage change well. If you face a problem at work that you’ve never encountered before, God will help you solve it. If you’re trying to parent a child through a challenging season, God will teach you how to do so well. You don’t have to try to predict where all the change around you will lead, because you‘re connected to God, who leads you well because he loves you.

Finally, Isaiah points out that “the fear of the Lord is Zion’s treasure.” In the Bible, the fear of the Lord doesn’t mean being afraid of God. Instead, the fear of the Lord means being in awe of who God is so you’re inspired to relate to God with reverence. When you make the Lord your ultimate treasure, you realize that while your circumstances in this world can change quickly, God’s character never changes. You don’t have to be stressed by all the change around you when you remember that the Holy Spirit lives inside you, offering you a strong and peaceful stability in the middle of change.

Intersecting Faith & Life:

As you consider how God gives us stability in these changing times, reflect on these questions:

• In what area of your life right now – such as at work, or in your family – are you feeling the most stress because of a change that’s happening?
• How does the truth that God promises to be your stability give you the confidence to trust God to help you with the challenges you’re currently facing? 
• Think back to a past season of your life when you went through a major change. How did God’s Holy Spirit guide you through it, and how can remembering that give you confidence today? 
• How can you slow down this week to take the time you need to connect with the Holy Spirit and receive an abundance of wisdom and knowledge for managing change well? 
• Isaiah mentions that the fear of the Lord is a treasure. How can you look for God’s wonder in your daily life so you’ll be inspired with a sense of awe that will help you relate to God with reverence?

Further Reading:
Hebrews 13:8
Malachi 3:6
Psalm 46:1-3
James 1:17
Matthew 7:24-25

How did today’s devotional speak to you? Share your thoughts in the Crosswalk Devotional discussion.

GO DEEPER:

Photo Credit: ©iStock/Getty Images Plus/PeopleImages

Whitney Hopler helps people discover God's wonder and experience awe. She is the author of several books, including the nonfiction books Wake Up to Wonder and Wonder Through the Year: A Daily Devotional for Every Year, and the young adult novel Dream Factory. Whitney has served as an editor at leading media organizations, including Crosswalk.com, The Salvation Army USA’s national publications, and Dotdash.com (where she produced a popular channel on angels and miracles). She currently leads the communications work at George Mason University’s Center for the Advancement of Well-Being. Connect with Whitney on her website at www.whitneyhopler.com and on her Facebook author page.

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