Saturday morning, I was sitting and thinking about all the changes I have seen in my 78 years. My focus settled on the telephone. My first recollection of the telephone was one connected to the wall. I remember my parents picking up the receiver and telling the operator who they wanted to talk with.
Then I remember the party line when you would pick up the receiver and hear people on your “party” talking. You would have to hang up and wait for them to finish before you could then make your call. In time we got what was called a “private line.”
The first actual telephone number that I remember (before there were area codes) started with “Ivanhoe 3.” Eventually, area codes were added, and call waiting, and voice messaging.
Now, telephones are amazing. You can do your banking with them, pay your bills, check out of the grocery store or restaurants. You can use them for research or talk to people face to face. They can do a lot more now than I am even aware of.
All that change made me recall a quote of Charles Spurgeon (1834-1892). “Consider what you owe to [God’s] immutability. Though you have changed a thousand times, He has not changed once.”
As I read that quote, I was reminded that while the phone has changed mightily since invented in 1876, our ability to communicate with our immutable God in prayer has remained the same. “So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.” [Hebrews 4:16 NLT]
