Change vs. Transformation

Poker players look for a ‘tell’ on the faces around the table - a twitch, a gesture, a mannerism - that hints at what the player is hiding in their hand.  in the Exodus story Moses tries to bargain with Pharaoh to secure the release of the Jews and the result is disastrous. As a result, he offers us a fascinating little ‘tell’ that shows what he’s really thinking. That tell is obvious when you realize Moses lied to the Pharaoh.

At the burning bush God told him to display miracles in front of Pharaoh. Instead, he tries to strike a bargain. Let us go to the desert to worship, he says, if you don’t God will kill us. In other words, lose us for a few days, or lose us for ever. God, of course, never said any such thing. God gave Moses the tools he needed - the miraculous staff, the healed hand - but Moses simply didn’t believe they would work. Moses was more afraid of Pharaoh than he was of God so he cooks up a story to move things along. At the end of the 5th chapter of Exodus, however, Moses is a completely different cat. Now he’s up in God’s face, angry, frustrated, making some pretty strong accusations about God sitting on the sidelines. There’s no doubt now about what Moses believes. Now he’s fully in. Now he’s demanding that God act.

Change happens everywhere, all the time, to everyone. There’s no escaping it. Every change process has, I believe, a transformational moment. It’s like diving off a bridge - you reach a point at which there’s no going back. You’re posture changes from standing to diving and your body from dry to wet. Your emotional state changes from apprehensive to afraid and then exhilarated. But, as a result of that one dive into the river, your inner self might be transformed from being timid and shy to being courageous and outgoing. In Moses’ case, it was his failure that resulted in a profound change in his understanding of his situation and a subsequent transformation of his inner character to become fully committed to God. Contrast this with Pharaoh, who changes his mind a dozen times but never experiences a transformation.

The plagues that God brings next precipitate a change in Egyptian history. But I really think they were necessary not just to make the Pharaoh change his mind but to make the Jewish people want to leave, also. It would take a long time in the wilderness - an entire generation would have to die - before the Israelites were ready to fight their war to take the land. They’re situation changed, but it would take more than forty years and a speech by Joshua before they were transformed from cowed, subservient slaves to confidently freed men and women.

I think we’re in the middle of a ‘transformational’ time at Third Space. We’ve been through a lot of changes in the last couple of years and I, for one, am ready to stop trying to negotiate with change. Like Moses before Pharaoh, I don’t think we can simply tweak the way things are anymore. I don’t think we can make a deal with the powers that are holding us back. We need to be transformed. We’re going to talk about this on Sunday. It’s not a Sunday morning that’s going to fill in a lot of blanks or answer a lot of questions. It will be food for thought instead, manna for the mind. It’s time.

Church, get ready. God’s about to do a new thing.