transformation

Transformation

Thirty five years after I accepted Christ, I retired and became a full-time grandma. Although it may not be obvious, there is a definite connection between these two events. Becoming a Christian was a turning point in my life. It marked the beginning of my journey toward a relationship with God. Emotionally, I consider it to be the lowest point in my life because I was suicidal and had no hope for the future. When I retired and became a full-time grandma, it was a dream come true. Emotionally, it was the highest point in my life because of the excitement I had about the future and the happiness I felt about reaching the end of a successful career. At that point, I was no longer depending on myself, but trusting that God would take care of me for the rest of my life.

Solomon’s temple was a magnificent structure that took seven years to build (1 Kings 6:38). It’s construction occurred at the height of Israel’s triumph over their enemies (1 Kings 5:4). It says in 1 Kings 6:1, “and it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month of Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.” The timing is very specific and the reference to the children of Israel coming out of Egypt makes it seem as if the passing of time is relevant to the transformation of the Israelites from slaves into victorious warriors.

Something I think every Christian has to learn is how to depend on God, but beyond that is fulfilling God’s purpose for our lives. When I became a Christian, I had a strong desire to have a family. The best years of my life were during the time when I was a stay at home mom. Although it was not in my nature to be married and settle down, I had three children and God began to transform me into a different kind of person. I believe becoming a full-time grandma marked the end of that transformation. I am no longer the same person I was before I became a Christian.

Personal involvement

“Delight thyself also in the LORD and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart” (Psalm 37:4). When the LORD works in our lives, he does so through personal involvement. You could say that he gets his hands on us and begins to mold and shape us as the potter does his clay (Jeremiah 18:1-6). The best condition for us to be in when this begins to happen is soft and pliable, capable of transformation.

The Hebrew word that is translated as give in this verse, nathan can also mean to make or do. “Nathan represents the action by which something is set going or actuated” (5414). It is like the potter’s wheel that spins around and allows the potter to use friction as a force to move the clay through his fingers so that it can be reshaped according to his design.

The difficult thing about being on the potter’s wheel is that it sometimes feels like our lives are spinning out of control and the friction that is generated when the potter puts his hands on us is painful. We are expected to feel secure in the potter’s hands, but we cannot see what his is doing and are unsure if we will like the end result.

“Thou which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth. Thou shalt increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side” (Psalm 71:20-21). The word translated quicken, chayah means to live or cause to revive (2421). In the process of transformation, there is usually a point where it feels like or appears to others as if we are going to die. When a caterpillar is transformed into a butterfly, it goes into a chrysalis that is similar to a casket or grave. It isn’t until the butterfly emerges that you can see what has taken place and know that the caterpillar no longer exists.

“Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O LORD, and teachest him out of thy law, that thou mayest give him rest from the days of adversity” (Psalm 94:12-13). To chasten someone means that you discipline him or give him instructions in order to bring about a change in behavior (3256). Although no one knows for certain what happens during metamorphosis, the stillness or idleness of the caterpillar enables it to undergo rapid change. When it emerges from its chrysalis, the butterfly is immediately able to fly and knows how to nourish itself.

In the parable of the potter and the clay, it says, “the vessel that he made of clay was marred in the hand of the potter” (Jeremiah 18:4). The vessel was ruined while the potter was working on it. Some people might conclude that the potter was working with a bad piece of clay or that the potter made a mistake by creating it in the first place. In my opinion, the vessel was meant to be transformed from the start.

The clay that the potter was using was a type that was capable of metamorphosis or transformation. When a caterpillar transforms into a butterfly, its DNA does not change. It was meant to be a butterfly from birth. I believe the desire of our heart indicates whether or not we are in the form we are meant to be. Like the process of metamorphosis, we are still waiting for the potter’s hands to be on us. His personal involvement is what makes it possible for the clay to be transformed.

The making of a king

“And it was so, that when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, God gave him another heart” (1 Samuel 10:9). King Saul was a different person after his encounter with Samuel. God not only changed his outward appearance when he turned him into another man (1 Samuel 10:6), but the inner man was transformed also.

“The heart includes not only the motives, feelings, affections, and desires, but also the will, the aims, the principles, the thoughts, and the intellect of man. In fact, it embraces the whole inner man” (3820). After God turned Saul into another man, people that knew Saul before would have said, you’ve changed, you seem different to me. After God give him another heart, Saul would have said, I’ve changed, I am different person than I was before. Saul underwent a complete transformation before he became king of Israel.

The inner spiritual and moral transformation that Saul experienced resulted in a single-minded commitment to the LORD and his will. It is comparable to the change described in Ezekiel 36:26 where it was prophesied ” A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh.”

Saul was God’s chosen instrument to establish his kingdom in the Promised Land. In the same way that the Israelites were his chosen people, on an individual level, Saul was God’s chosen man to be king of his people. God’s choosing or election is a part of the process that results in Christians being born again. Saul is an example of God performing the process even before Christ was born.

The interesting thing about Saul’s experience is that he had no say in the matter. God did not ask Saul if he wanted to be king nor did he do it because Saul deserved to be king. Saul’s transformation was necessary so that he could function effectively as king. God made Saul into a king because the Israelites wanted a king and Saul was the man God selected.