Times are changing. This is probably the refrain of every generation, but it does appear that changes in our world are happening at a more rapid rate. Technology that my grandmother couldn’t have imagined – routine flights, space travel, cell phones and Skype – is taken for granted today. The same is true for many values and social norms. Ideas once embraced a few years ago – or a few months ago – are now looked upon as widely unacceptable. What once took centuries now occurs in the blink of an eye. All that can be unsettling, but the changes that affect us most are relational – the death of a loved one, a friend with a growing family has shrinking availability for us, the loss of trust in an ally or the bittersweet transformation to caretaker.
So how do we anchor ourselves? What is true and lasting and what is fleeting? When things change around us there must be something we can count on or we will lose hope. Is all chaos and whimsy or is there a foundation on which we can stand?
Abraham’s life changed dramatically when He encountered God. He was called from his home, land of his father and his people, to an unknown land. He became a father late in life, built a nation, and entered a covenant with the living God. Upon settling in Beersheba he formed a treaty with a foreign king, Abimelech. On making his oath Abraham called upon El Olam, the Everlasting God.
This is the first appearance of this name for God. Abraham had experienced frequent change in his circumstance and surroundings. But he grew to know a God who was eternal and unchanging - a God who kept His promises. A son had been promised and given, a people had been promised and given, he had been delivered from enemies and shown favor among nations. Peace had come through a treaty with an earthly king, but it was his eternal King he blessed - a God who would be the same tomorrow whether or not Abimelech broke his part of the treaty.
As my world is constantly transforming, I know my God and He will be the same tomorrow as He was yesterday. Whatever changes I experience, His character remains certain. And I can live confidently in the today because of El Olam, the unchanging, everlasting, eternal One.
For I the Lord do not change; Malachi 3:6
