When God burns your bridges …

It was recorded that sometime in the late 1800’s the Duke of Cambridge stated, “Any change, at any time, for any reason, is to be deplored.”

To that many would say a hearty “Amen!”

Problem, though.

We know life is not static, change happens all the time, whether it is invited or not. Yet some of our most trying times are when we push against the more significant changes in our lives. There are times when God leans into our lives and burns our bridges, making it so that we cannot hang on to the status quo or return to the “good ol’ days.”

At some point it is important to accept the fact some things never go back like they were.

These are times when God has burned our bridges, and we either push forward and forge a new reality or we fail radically.

Such a situation is recorded in the Old Testament about the life of King David after he had sinned with Bathsheba and had devised her husband, Uriah’s, death. David’s desire for Bathsheba at any cost was not a position and heart condition God found acceptable in His servant, so he burned some bridges for David …

“Then David confessed to Nathan, ‘I have sinned against the Lord.’ Nathan replied, ‘Yes, but the Lord has forgiven you, and you won’t die for this sin. Nevertheless, because you have shown utter contempt for the word of the Lord by doing this, your child will die.’ After Nathan returned to his home, the Lord sent a deadly illness to the child of David and Uriah’s wife. David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. Then on the seventh day the child died. David’s advisers were afraid to tell him. ‘He wouldn’t listen to reason while the child was ill,’ they said. ‘What drastic thing will he do when we tell him the child is dead?’ When David saw them whispering, he realized what had happened. ‘Is the child dead?’ he asked. ‘Yes,’ they replied, ‘he is dead.’ Then David got up from the ground, washed himself, put on lotions, and changed his clothes. He went to the Tabernacle and worshiped the Lord. After that, he returned to the palace and was served food and ate. His advisers were amazed. ‘We don’t understand you,’ they told him. ‘While the child was still living, you wept and refused to eat. But now that the child is dead, you have stopped your mourning and are eating again.’ David replied, ‘I fasted and wept while the child was alive, for I said, “Perhaps the Lord will be gracious to me and let the child live.” But why should I fast when he is dead? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him one day, but he cannot return to me.’ Then David comforted Bathsheba, his wife, and slept with her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son, and David named him Solomon. The Lord loved the child and sent word through Nathan the prophet that they should name him Jedidiah (which means “beloved of the Lord”), as the Lord had commanded,” 2 Samuel 12:13-25.

Sometimes our plots do not benefit us. Someimes our children become ill. Sometimes healing does not come. Sometimes God burns our bridges so there is no return to “better times” or “better days.”

When David’s child had died, he understood that he, alone, was responsible for the pain he had caused himself and for this critical need for change. Now he understood some things never go back to like they were. It was time to push forward and forge a new reality.

Kent Crockett writes this odd story in “The 911 Handbook” …

Two construction workers had taken a lunch break and opened up their lunch boxes. One of them looked inside his box and said, “Not baloney again! I can’t believe it. I hate baloney. This is the third time this week I’ve had baloney. I can’t stand baloney!” The other worker said, “Why don’t you just ask your wife to make you something different?” He replied, “I don’t have a wife. I make my own lunch.” The fact is, most of the baloney in our lives we put there ourselves. If we ever want life to be any different from the same old baloney we keep serving ourselves, then we must break out of doing the routine.

When we push against needed change in a battle to remain static, understand you’re inviting God in to burn some bridges in your life to push you forward for your own best interests.

Are you wrestling with the future by clinging to something in the past? Are you refusing to acknowledge that something in your life will never again be like it was? Why not trust God today to help you move forward into a future that has new and fresh blessings for you?

Scotty