August/September is a transition month for many people in the USA and maybe for others around the world. Many of us are having our last minute summer vacations. Others have already sent their children back to school earlier this month while many schools start back after Labor Day. In any case, this is a time of transition.
Transitions can be tough. We are creatures of habit. It seems so much easier for things to stay the way they have been. Sometimes we pray for something new; we dream of something new. But, when God shows up with change, we often become anxious.
Since God lives in eternity, God knows the future before we enter into it. We really need faith in Him because God calls us into a future that only He knows.
Since we live in the finitude of time, the most difficult moments of our lives are what I call \”the in-between season\” – the time of transition.
In the Old Testament, Israel had a hard time leaving Egypt – not because they loved oppression, but because they had become accustomed to it. The idea of change was of greater anxiety than the painful realities of their present situation in slavery. They dreamt of something different; but what would they need to give up to get there? What would they encounter on the way there?
Indeed, the transition from Egypt to the Promise Land took on a life of its own. The pilgrimage was even longer than necessary because Israel had a hard time letting go of their past – Egypt.
That which Israel had known, as oppressive and as evil as it was to them, seemed more comfortable than the transition into the new day they had hoped and prayed for.
The unfamiliar giants were huge. Like us, most times, the Israelites\’ fear was stronger than their faith. They worried about where their next meal would come from. They were in their wilderness for 40 years. I call this season in Hebrew history \”the in-between place.\”
In their \”in-between place,\” they discovered that the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph was not only the God of the past and of the desired future; their God was (and is) the \”God of \’the in-between place\’\” — a God of transition.
As God was with Israel, God remains the same with us — \”the God of the in-between place.\”
Let us remember that God is for us; God is with us; God will guide us, even amidst those \”in-between places\” of our lives — whatever they may be. We must let go of the past to get into the future.
When we trust God like we should and obey Him, it becomes easier to let go and let God.
Have a wonderful week with the \”God of the in-between!\”
Blessings,
Dr. Antipas
