Navigating Life's Transitions with Faith and Obedience
New seasons, next seasons, and hard seasons. We would all probably prefer to determine our seasons rather than have circumstances or others choose them for us. We often define our seasons by developmental stages or life events. We all moved from infancy to toddlerhood, to childhood, to adolescence, and to adulthood. Once adults, we often define our stages by life events like graduating college or entering the workforce, which are often the beginning of our adult stages of life. Marriage, having children, career advancement, midlife, and retirement are common markers of later adulthood.
But we can also enter new stages due to sudden and undesired changes in our lives and circumstances. The death of a spouse, a divorce, unemployment, or serious illness or injury may also force a new season of life.
Reading the story of Stephen in Acts chapters six and seven gives us a quick overview of the chapters or seasons of God’s grand redemptive story. After Stephen’s conversion and selection as one of the seven who made sure that the widows were properly taken care of by the church, his reputation grew due to his wisdom, grace, and powerful presence as a teacher of scripture.
When questioned by the Jewish leaders, Stephen gave a high-level summary, explaining the broad stages of God’s chosen people. He began his explanation with the story of Abraham, including Isaac and Jacob and his 12 sons, often called the patriarchs. Stephen moved quickly from the patriarchs to Moses and how God prepared him and called him to be the deliverer of his enslaved people.
Stephen carefully explained how all through the story of God’s people, there was always a decision to be made concerning placing one’s full trust in God’s plan or choosing to follow another plan.
Stephen quickly segmented the stages of Moses’s life: birth, being raised by Pharaoh’s daughter, killing an Egyptian and fleeing to the wilderness described his first 40 years. Then around age 80, God spoke to Moses at the burning bush and called him to go to Pharaoh and free the Israelites. His final 40 years were spent in the wilderness leading the nation to the promised land.
Stephen moved next to David and Solomon and the construction of the temple. He explained that even the beautiful temple in Jerusalem could not possibly contain God:
“Yet the Most High does not dwell in houses made by hands, as the prophet says, “Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things?”
The Jewish leaders could not handle the suggestion that God had moved into another stage of his grand redemptive story. How could Jesus, and now his followers, be filled with the Holy Spirit and replace their long understood and preferred narrative? But all of scripture tells us that this is exactly what was to happen and did happen. God no longer dwells in temples or buildings. He was never limited to the temple. He lives in the life of every person who declares Jesus as Lord and obediently follows him.
This powerful defense of the gospel by Stephen led him to become the first Christian martyr and enter his final stage by joining Jesus in eternity.
I am confident that Stephen didn’t have a life plan that included becoming a Christian and a chosen leader in God’s new kingdom. He didn’t plan to become a martyr either. Stephen simply chose to be obedient in the moment he was given and even through suffering a brutal stoning, he entered his final stage of glory.
All of us will move through some planned and predictable stages and will also experience moments where our choices will determine our next stage of life. We can learn from Stephen that no matter how hard the moment is and how hard the assignment might be, we have a choice concerning our willingness to be obedient and trust in God’s plans for our lives. His plans may sometimes include great difficulty. But when we place our faith in God’s faithfulness to us, he will give us the grace and power to follow him wherever he calls.
Father, thank you that you never abandon your children. Thank you for Jesus. Thank you for the gift of the Holy Spirit who lives in us and allows us to courageously follow you wherever you lead. May our lives be used today for your glory. In Jesus’ name, amen.
Your Time with God’s Word
Acts 7:30-43; Acts 7:46-60; 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 ESV
Photo by Vladislav Babienko on Unsplash
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