Mark Twain said, “The only person who likes change is a baby with a wet diaper.”  Let’s face it: change is a difficult thing that most people don’t handle well.    

Several years ago, I decided to do away with our home phone and only use our cell phones.  I distinctly remember how difficult it was to call and have our home service terminated.  As I placed the call, the lady I spoke with asked, “Mr. McCollough, have you considered what you would do in an emergency?”  I curtly snapped back at her, “That is none of your concern!” The Holy Spirit immediately convicted me.  I apologized to her.  But here’s the truth of the matter.  I was ugly to the young lady because I was making a change that I didn’t want to make.  Marianne and I had a history associated with that number.  And somehow, it bothered me to disconnect it. 

Our resistance to change often results in God bringing things to bear in our lives that force us to make the changes we don’t want to make. Usually, our willingness to “settle for” and “accept things as they are” necessitates the discomfort in our lives that produces change.   

In Genesis 9:1(KJV), we find the following: “And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth.”  Notice the phrase, “the earth.”  They were to be a Nomadic people. Yet, in Genesis 11:1-9(KJV), we find the story of “The Tower of Babel.”  In short, in their travels, the people of God found a place that pleased them.  So, they decided to disregard God’s instruction to be a Nomadic people and set forth to build a city with a tower that would reach into the heavens.  Because everyone spoke the same language, God knew they would accomplish their goal.  So, God confused their language and scattered them abroad across the earth.  In essence, because they got “comfortable” and didn’t want to embrace change, God had to cause “discomfort” to force them to do what He had told them to do in the first place.  I wonder how many times we suffer because we reach a place of comfort, disregard God’s instructions, settle in, and force God to intervene to get us where He wanted us in the first place. 

God intervened at Babel for three reasons: 

1:  His People Had an Obsessive Need to Control.  

Now, I realize that not one single person reading this column today has ever struggled with this one. (I’m being facetious!) Many of us resist change, if the truth be known, because it requires us to surrender control.  Even Job had a problem with control.  God took him to task over it: “Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.  Where wast thou when I laid the foundations of the earth? declare, if thou hast understanding.  Who hath laid the measures thereof, if thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon it? Job 38: 3-5(KJV).   

2:  His People Tried to Minister in a Place Where They Were Never Called. 

 Babel was never their mission field.  The whole earth was! 

3:  They Tried to Build Something That Was Never Ordained of God 

In 1 Samuel 15:22 (KJV) we find, “And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” – “… To obey is better than sacrifice …”  I’m convinced that when we resist change to the point that God has to intervene in our lives, if we examine our actions closely, we will find these same three principles at play.  And we would save ourselves a whole lot of pain, suffering, and grief if we would just do what God instructed! 

Whoo!  Change is tough. 

Brother Aaron