Changes

This year, the weekly Bible Study in our department will take a new twist. Instead of following the lectionary readings, we will take one pressing issue in our workplace and see how God works in our midst. We will look at the Word of God that speaks about the issues we are facing.

In this first month of the year, we will encounter CHANGE. As what have been promised to us by God, new things are coming for the better.

Our department will also and have seen changes. There will be changes in our personal lives, in our roles as physicians and residents, changes in our department policy, in our training program and even in our hospital setting. The removal of the FM triage in the Emergency Room is one big change that drew different responses from the administrators and the other departments. The change in duties and responsibilities of the residents from being juniors to now seniors is another change. The heavy immersion in our rotations is another change that we are all apprehensive. And from all these changes, we hear different reactions and responses from different groups. Most resist the change that will happen. Some are doubtful to its timing. And almost everybody wanted a status quo. This story is similar to the storuy of Israel who were captive in Egypt.

In Exodus Chapter 5, we see God planning to shake up things in Egypt. God has plans that will improve the situation of Israel. God wanted change. So Moses was called up to talk to Pharaoh to tell Pharaoh the Changes God was planning to do. And you guessed it right, the response was nothing different to what we see here in the hospital. Pharaoh resisted change. Even the Israelites doubted the importance of this change. Moses, himself, questioned the change God was planning to do. Everybody resisted change. They all wanted the status quo.

In our lives, we want to be sure of things. Change is about uncertainty because you are never sure what will happen, simply because you haven't experienced it. Change is something beyond what we are used to. We want to stay in our comfort zone, with what we are used to. So we resist change. But we must trust the One who imposes the change. We must trust that the plan of change is for the better.

The change that happens does not promise to be smooth sailing. It may be rough. Challenges and difficulties will come. Just like the Israelites who suffered from hunger and thirst, and had to endure 40 years of wandering in the desert, the changes in our department and in ourselves will not be easy. We will struggle and we will encounter difficulties. But God is faithful and we must trust God. We may not see the whole plan of God but we know that the plan for change will be for the better.