Faithful One

One of my favourite hymns is Faithful one. The words are a great comfort these days:

Faithful One, so unchanging

Ageless one, You're my rock of peace

Lord of all I depend on You

You are my rock in times of trouble

You lift me up when I fall down

All through the storm, Your love is

The anchor, My hope is in You alone

Reflection

Faithful One, so unchanging…

Unchanging.  God—the one constant in an ever changing world.

Change can be good—making a new friend, finding a special coffee shop, travelling—when we could! Change can be difficult—the diagnosis of a disease, the loss of a job, the passing of a friend.

But good or bad, change is unnerving.

I heard an interview with young people in the Maritimes. One young man said wryly that “we have no choice but to get comfortable with uncertainty.” And he’s right. We have no choice but to get comfortable with uncertainty.

The changes of the last year have been especially unsettling. In the familiar routines and comforts of our lives, emotionally we were spectacularly unprepared for the pandemic. Things that were once every day normal now become issues. How do I get my groceries? Can my grandchild attend class? How can I comfort a sick friend? What about that longed for graduation ceremony?

So much uncertainty. 

Yet…

Faithful one, so unchanging…

Psalm 102 says “Of old you laid the foundation of the earth,

And the heavens are the work of your hands.

They will perish, but you will remain;

They will all wear out like a garment;

You will change them like a robe, 

and they will pass away,

But you are the same, 

And your years have no end.”

Or in Malachi “For I the Lord do not change;

And again in Hebrews “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday today and forever”.

Faithful and unchanging

We hear over and over that these times are “unprecedented” and in many ways they are, but even a cursory look back at history shows that upheaval has followed upheaval, wars and pestilence, slavery and natural disasters. Fear and uncertainty and and change have always been part of our story. We just have more media coverage of unfolding disasters these days! Imagine what CNN could have made of the Black Death!

Faithful one, so unchanging… 

In a changing world, let us rejoice in His unchangeableness. Yes, surely in this we can rejoice.