As the New Year takes off, many of us are trying out new things. We’re setting new goals, possibly transitioning jobs, re-evaluating our priorities, and hopefully checking our hearts to see where our allegiances lie.

In the midst of all of this, you might hear a recurring voice come up in your conscience, “Just make sure you keep trusting God amid those changes and transitions!” This is absolutely sound advice, but how exactly should that look? What does it mean to trust God when things change? Do we just pray, “Well God, I trust you.” Christian cliches, no matter how true, aren’t helpful when we don’t know how to apply them.

There’s a powerful moment during one of Israel’s transitions in the Old Testament that we can lean on to help us transition into new seasons: It’s in Deuteronomy 11,

You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and take possession of the land into which you are about to cross to possess it… For the land, into which you are entering to possess it, is not like the land of Egypt from which you came, where you used to sow your seed and water it by your foot like a vegetable garden. But the land into which you are about to cross to possess it, a land of hills and valleys, drinks water from the rain of heaven,  a land for which the Lord your God cares; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it, from the beginning even to the end of the year. (Deuteronomy 11:9-12)

Ancient Egypt was a civilization that developed along about 1000 miles of the Nile River. The Nile was both literally and figuratively the source and supply of stable agricultural life in Egypt. Ancient Egyptians worshiped the god Hapi specifically for providing consistent water from the Nile, and they used irrigation techniques that ran rising waters from the Nile into specific cisterns. So for Egypt, the Nile was both a literal source of provision and abundance, and it was a force worthy of worship and gratitude. Egyptian life was centered on trusting that gods would use the Nile to be their source and supply.

At this point in history, Israel had lived in Egypt for over 400 years. There is not a single living Hebrew who knows farming and agriculture in any other context other than how Egypt did it. Hebrews had no other choice but to center their lives on the systems Egypt used. If you did not at least acknowledge that some higher power faithfully provides using the Nile, you risk losing the health and wellness of your family. Worship and provision are intrinsically linked in the Bible, and they are linked for us today as well. As Christians, we are surrounded by people who believe, “You can follow God, yeah, but you have to participate in some secular rituals and practices in our society, otherwise you’re not going to make it.” That’s how it was for Israelites who saw consistent provision from Egypt, and now worried that they needed to take some of Egypt with them. They would pledge allegiance to Yahweh, sure, but it is only practical that they maintain some form of Egyptian ritual worship to be successful and provide for their families.

God saw this coming, and He prepared Israel by saying, “Hey, even the way you used to water your crops in Egypt, it doesn’t work like that here. I’m taking you to a new place in life where the water literally falls from the sky, and it does so consistently. Those irrigation techniques that you relied on in Egypt? Those won’t work for you anymore. New season, new strategy.”

As long as Israel tried to continue using Egypt’s method, they’d flounder in the new land, not realizing that what was provision for them in their former land is now depriving them in this new one.

Sometimes God brings change into our lives, and when He does, He removes physical sources of happiness and provision, because He knows that our trust and worship still reside in those sources. To bring us into a state of greater trust and deeper relationship with Him, and greater separation from the world’s solutions, He needs us to detach from former sources of supply and receive completely new ones: Sources that He personally governs in our lives. Deuteronomy 11:12 literally says that Israel is stepping into a land “for which the Lord your God cares.” Even though Israel tried to remain faithful to Worship God in Egypt, there was a form of acceptance that Egyptian powers governed their health and wellness. Egypt was their source and supply.

You used to receive your provision the way Egyptians did, and that was fine for a while, but the land into which you are going now—things don’t work that way.

As you dive into this new year, ask yourself if you’re trying to step into new territory while working and worshiping the way you did in the old places. If you are, pray and ask God to prepare your heart to let those go, so that your faith can accept this new land where things work differently, and God is truly your only source and your supply. It is okay to be grateful for the Nile in your past, and how God used it to get you through that season to prepare you for this one. God can use even the pagan practices of others to produce fruit from them for us. But perhaps it’s time to let those go.