Are You Prepared For Change?
Scriptures: Isaiah 6:8; Proverbs 6:6-11; 30:24-25
Introduction
I was reflecting on the song “A Change Is Gonna Come” by the late Sam Cooke. This past December marked the fiftieth anniversary of his death under mysterious circumstances. Before his untimely death, Mr. Cooke recorded this song which was released two weeks after his death in December 1964. He wrote this song because of an incident that had happened the year before when he and those with him tried to check into a whites' only motel in Louisiana and were refused accommodations. He was later arrested for disturbing the peace as he remained in the parking lot of the motel blowing the horn of his car. He felt compelled to write a song that spoke to his and the struggles of others around him. It was a song of hope and the expectation that like it or not, a change was going to come. This song became the anthem for the American Civil Rights movement.
If you’ve heard the song or read the lyrics, you see clearly that he is reflecting on a life; a life with humble beginning and the continued struggles the person faced throughout their life. The song speaks of the hard life lived and the fear of death because he did not know what was on the other side (up there beyond the sky). He spoke of the struggles of the civil rights movement when he spoke of going to the movies and being turned away and reaching out to others and being knocked down on his knees. Each verse ends with the words, “a change gonna come, oh yes it will.” This is the official version of how this song came to be. This song was not written as a gospel song even though many have sung this song in a Church setting. I can understand this because the core message of the song is the idea that although life will contain many hardships and struggles a change is going to come one day. After Sam Cooke’s death, the question was asked if this song was the result of a “premonition” that his time here on earth was coming to an end; if he knew that by some tragic means he would soon die. While we do not know the answer to this question, I want you to think about the title to this song and ask yourself – are you ready for the change that’s going to come in your life. Are you prepared for it? A change is coming whether we like it or not because life is about change. However, it is in our best interest to be ready and prayerful about the changes we will continue to face.
Three weeks ago Rev. Fulks told us that “when God’s is in it, all things are possible. She said that the holiday season was the time of year when the “hoped for” becomes the possibility – the things received. We have entered into a new year – a time where we might be carrying over some of what we hoped for in 2014 into 2015. If this is the case for you, you’re looking for change. You see, as Rev. Fulks said, “It’s not over, it’s not finished!” Rev. Folk’s message was followed by the message two weeks ago from our guest speaker Rev. Marcus Jackson. He told us that “if we put God first, everything else will fall into its rightful place.” He also said that we need to know the Lord before we experience the difficult times in our lives and that by increasing our passion about Christ we could reduce and/or eliminate our worries.
When you consider the last two messages that our Church received on the last two Sundays of 2014, it’s clear to me that God is telling us that it is time for each of us to take an inventory of our life and prepare for change. He told us that nothing is over if He’s involved in it and when He is involved in it, all things are possible. Then He told us to focus on Him – to put Him first. As I listened to those two messages I could hear God telling me in a summary:
“I know what you’re dealing with might seem like a lost cause and that your back is against the wall, but remember, all things are possible through Me. It’s not over until I say it’s over. Put Me first; trust Me; aligned yourself with Me and I will take care of everything else around you.” If you’ve entered 2015 looking for a change; praying for a change; expecting a change; are your prepared for or preparing for the change?
I. Consider The Ant And Be Wise
Whatever change we are expecting in our lives requires some preparation. We have to be prepared for the change otherwise we will miss the opportunity to capitalize on it. Remember what I shared with you at the close of our service the last time we were together? I used the analogy of cleaning our kitchens half way to illustrate how we leave things undone for God. In some ways we are like children who are required to clean the kitchen after a meal. Some children will go into the kitchen and clean everything off the table and countertops and pile the dirty dishes into the sink and leave them there and call the kitchen clean. Others will do the same and take it one step further and load the dishes into the dishwasher with as many dishes as it will hold and call the job done. They do not turn the dishwasher on, they just load it. Yet others will do all of this and actually turn the dishwasher on and hand wash the dishes that would not fit into the dishwasher making sure everything is clean. But you know what – even for the one who does all of this, the job is not complete. The ones who does all of this and then dries and puts away the dishes that they hand washed plus comes back and empties the dishwasher after it finishes washing the dishes and drying those dishes and putting them away truly completes the job. And a true job well done is that person who finishes the task by sweeping the floor to make sure it’s even clean. It’s this latter person that does the job completely without taking any shortcuts. This is the person who sees their responsibility is total without looking at what others are doing around them. This is the person who takes ownership of what they are doing while realizing that if it’s not done right by them, who will do it right? This is the person who answers the call of God as was spoken in Isaiah 6:8 which says, “Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, ‘Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?’ Then I said, ‘Here am I. Send me!” This is the person who prepares themselves to do a job and then completes the task. Because they have weighed the cost or the responsibility, they are prepared to stay with it until it is completed. This brings me to the ant.
Do you remember reading in the book of Proverbs what Solomon said about the ant? Solomon used the ant as an example for the sluggard as to how they should learn to live their lives. Let’s read Proverbs 6:6-11 and Proverbs 30:24-25.
“Go to the ant, O sluggard, observe her ways and be wise. Which having no chief, officer or ruler, prepares her food in the summer and gathers her provision in the harvest. How long will you lie down, O sluggard? When will you arise from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest, your poverty will come in like a vagabond and your need like an armed man.” (Proverbs 6:6-11)
Proverbs 30:24-25 says “Four things are small on the earth, but they are exceedingly wise. The ants are not a strong people, but they prepare their food in summer.”
All of us are familiar with ants. If you have ever taken the time to watch ants, you probably noticed that they are always moving. They are always doing something. They do not stop and they do not give up. The worker ants are constantly working – which is their job. Solomon says that the ant is wise. Why is this? Let me share some background on the ant so that you will better understand why Solomon says that they are wise.
The queen ants can live up to 30 years and their sole role is to produce offspring. Ants live in very organized colonies which each “type” of ant having a very specific role to play. Their individualized roles can change and/or evolve but their sole focus is the benefit of the colony. Within an individual colony, ants will have roles assigned to them based on their gender and their size. Some are workers, others are soldiers and still others have other specialized responsibilities. What is most interesting is that regardless of the role they have within the colony, they appear to operate as a unified entity, collectively working together to support the colony. Many animals can learn behaviors by imitation, but ants may be the only group apart from mammals where interactive teaching has been observed. Ants are active all year long in the tropics but in cooler regions they survive the winter in a state of dormancy or inactivity. The forms of inactivity are varied and some temperate species have larvae going into the inactivate state while in others, the adults alone pass the winter in a state or reduced activity. The preparation for this period of inactivity is what Solomon was referencing when he spoke of the wisdom of the ant. So let’s examine what Solomon said.
II. The Sluggard – Failing To Prepare
We often think of the sluggard as the lazy person who refuses to work and that is correct. But I want to use the term to describe how we fail to prepare for the change that come and go in our lives. In this one area, many of us have been or continue to be sluggards. When Solomon spoke about the ant, he tells the sluggard to go to the ant and observe her ways and be wise. What are the ways of an ant? As I mentioned earlier, ants are always active during their season. There is work to be done and they are doing it. Solomon points out that the ant without being told or monitored, goes about her job with vigor. They work while they can in preparation for when they cannot work. They seek and find food and store it for the times when food will not be available. Solomon tells the sluggard to stop sleeping and go to work. This sleeping can be both physically and mental. Sometimes our minds get so lazy that mentally we shut down which results in our shutting down physically. When a person experiences failure often enough they stop preparing for success – unlike the ant, which I will; speak more of shortly. If you have ever paid attention to an ant at work, nothing stops them from completing their task. If you place something in front of them, they will go around it, over it or even through it to get to their destination. They do not give up!
Solomon told the sluggard to take notice of the ant and to gain wisdom from them. The wisdom that Solomon wanted the sluggard to gain was that the ant was busy preparing for the change that would come. The ants knew that they had a limited amount of time to get prepared for the change and they made use of the time at hand. Solomon asks the sluggard “How long will you lie down/ When will you rise from sleep?” He stresses the point that poverty would come when they did not expect it because of their procrastination. When we procrastinate we often fail to get the job done because we do not see the real need for completing the task now. When we do not prepare and the change come we are not ready for it. We miss opportunities because we did not prepare. We miss opportunities because we are waiting on God to move when in fact we should be moving.
Conclusion
God has told us that when He is involved, it’s not over. He has told us that when we put Him first, everything else will fall into its rightful place. If this is true, and I believe it is, what is our role? Our role is to be prepared to receive the change, acknowledge the change when it comes and then receive it and act upon it. Many times we fail to act upon a change because we do not recognize it when it comes. We must change that.
As I close this morning I want to share one additional piece of wisdom that we can gleam from the ant. Controlled experiments with colonies of ants were done to determine how the ants would respond to their defined roles and if based on circumstances, would choose a different role based on their experiences. An entire generation of identical workers was divided into two groups whose outcome in seeking food was controlled. On group was continually rewarded with prey, while it was made certain that the other group failed. As a result, members of the successful group intensified their foraging attempts while the unsuccessful group ventured out fewer and fewer times. A month later, the group of successful foragers continued in their role while the other group who failed changed their roles to become more specialized within the nest. In other words, when they failed at what they were previously good at, they sought new roles and continued to work and be successful. Do you understand the wisdom here?
These ants were workers – those that went out every day and found food for the colony. When their circumstances changed outside of their control, they did not give up. They were workers and they had a desire to work. Instead of giving up because they could no longer exceed in their given role, they evolved into other specialized roles. They accepted the change in their environment and they changed. Consider the wisdom of the ant!
As we enter into 2015, I want us to consider the wisdom of the ant. We know with God all things are possible. Let us transition our minds from the “hoped for” and “possibility of” to the “fulfillment of.” In order to do this we must prepare. We must prepare for the change that we are expecting to see. If that change involves us changing ourselves, then let us change. If that change involves us changing our friends and those we hang out with, then let us change. Let us have the mindset in 2015 that we will put God first so that everything else will find its rightful place in our lives. Let this be the year when we leave nothing undone to carry into 2016. Let us consider the wisdom of the ant: let nothing stop us from finishing our course this year!
Until next time, “The Lord bless you and keep you. May the Lord make His face shine on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord lift up His countenance on you and give you peace.” (Numbers 6:24-26)
