I’ve decided that most of us like to be comfortable and have our ducks all in a row. We like to know what, how and where things will happen, and we become unsettled and often grumpy when we don’t have these things in our world.
But I've discovered that God is not primarily interested in our comfort, but rather in us walking in our purpose and the blessings he has planned for us. Some of the biggest changes and amazing things in my life have occurred when I found myself uncomfortable and things looked messy. Sometimes God does allow us to be “uncomfortable as a catalyst for change”, but it will always lead eventually to good change if we keep walking with him.
Take, for example, how, several years ago, God led our family to this lovely house in one of the better parts of the city. It was cheap rent when everywhere else, the rents were steadily rising in price, and we had no doubt that God had led and provided for us to live there.
However, after four years, I started to feel like God was saying, “it’s time to move.” The problem was, I didn’t particularly want to. I was quite happy living in my little white house on the hill, in a great spot; walking distance to one of the best school’s in the city, a park and shops nearby, the beach minutes away, and the first real neighbours we had ever had.
I kept disagreeing and arguing with God about moving to the other side of the city, where I didn’t particularly want to go. However, God loves us and is persistent when He has a plan. So He kept nudging me to move, and things started to happen.
Our job situation changed, and we no longer lived close to work; we had another baby, which meant we now had six children squeezed into a three-bedroom house, with the youngest two sleeping in our room. Then there was the sudden massive leak in the games room and a mould problem, which took months to fix.
Finally, I was so uncomfortable in my little white house I said, “Ok, God, can you please fix this”. My discomfort became the catalyst I needed for change. I was desperate, annoyed and very uncomfortable. And that is when God was able to act and get the blessing He had been planning all along. Within a few months, we had moved to a home of our own with five bedrooms and twice the living area, and I was no longer uncomfortable.
God does allow us to be uncomfortable as a catalyst for change. That doesn’t mean he will send bad things our way, but he will use them, so it pays to listen.
Today if you are feeling particularly uncomfortable, stop and listen.
Is God trying to say something to you? Is He trying to get something to you? Because being uncomfortable is often the place God allows us to get to as a catalyst for the change we require to transition to new and better things.
Remember though, that even when everything else changes, God never does; He is the same yesterday, today and forever.
If you are feeling uncomfortable, look for God amid your discomfort and let Him lead you through it, for He will have a blessing on His mind on the other side.
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” (James 4:7)
“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8)
“God is not human, that he should lie, not a human being, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfil?” (Numbers 23:19)
Prayer: Lord, help me to listen to you and for any change you want to bring in my life. Please help me recognise that being uncomfortable can be a catalyst for change and the need for me to transition to something new in my life. In Jesus Name. Amen.