My children have particular routines and structures that they like to keep. The same song at bedtime every night, followed by prayers – you first, then me. The teddy needs to be wrapped in a specific blanket in a particular way… If you try and change the bedtime routine, or drive home a different way from the shops, if you try and serve food on a plate that is touching other food… you will certainly know about it! Do not upset the status quo!

Routine and structure appear in our lives from a young age. Knowing what to expect is reassuring and makes us feel safe. It’s the same for us as adults. We don’t like change either. Familiarity and predictability is up there with the stuff that bolsters our confidence and makes us feel that everything is all right in the world.

However, I don’t need to tell you that the days we are living in currently are full of unpredictability and change. These changes are happening so fast – not even day by day, but often hour by hour. Borders are closed, jobs are lost, finances are tight, sport is cancelled and retirement villages are in lockdown preventing visitors from entering…

Change can be overwhelming, confusing, and when unknown viruses are added to the mix, change can be panic-inducing. So what are we to do?

In the midst of all the change, we need an anchor to ground us, a hope to steady us. How good it is, that we ‘say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can mere mortals do to me?”… Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.’ (Hebrews 13:6,8 NIV)

We have, in Jesus, a never-changing God who rules over all. A God who is not surprised by coronavirus. A God who hasn’t missed a beat and wasn’t looking the other way when it all began last year. We have, in Jesus, a God who is strong enough and steady enough for us to lean into when all else around us seems to be changing. Jesus is our anchor in this storm and he is the same yesterday, today and forever. He is our safe and powerful place to find refuge. “So we will never fear even if every structure of support were to crumble away. We will not fear even when the earth quakes and shakes, moving mountains and casting them into the sea. For the raging roar of stormy winds and crashing waves cannot erode our faith in you.” (Psalm 46:2-3 TPT) Hold fast to the anchor in the storm. Hold fast to the hope in the change.

I hear the words of love,

I gaze upon the blood,

I see the mighty sacrifice,

And I have peace with God.

’Tis everlasting peace!

Sure as Jehovah’s Name,

’Tis stable as His steadfast throne,

For evermore the same.

The clouds may go and come,

And storms may sweep my sky;

This blood-sealed friendship changes not,

The Cross is ever nigh.

My love is ofttimes low,

My joy still ebbs and flows,

But peace with Him remains the same,

No change my Savior knows.

I change, He changes not;

The Christ can never die;

His love, not mine, the resting-place,

His truth, not mine, the tie.

The Cross still stands unchanged,

Though heaven is now His home;

The mighty stone is rolled away,

But yonder is His tomb!

And yonder is my peace,

The grave of all my woes!

I know the Son of God has come,

I know He died and rose.

I know He liveth now

At God’s right hand above;

I know the throne on which He sits,

I know His truth and love!

I hear the words of love, Horatius Bonar (1808-1889)