God Never Changes
GOD PROMISES HE NEVER CHANGES
(Malachi 3:6) “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
One of the divine attributes of God is His immutability, which means God does not change. Another of His divine attributes is His omniscience which means God knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. This should bring comfort to us as Christians because God not only knows our hearts, but His promises toward us never change.
However, sometimes God’s omniscience or foreknowledge can cause confusion for us, especially when reading various Bible passages. Because of the limitation of our language we can have trouble presenting the concept of God’s foreknowledge and therefore it can appear that God changed His mind. When in reality God has given choices to people in the Bible knowing ahead of time what their response would be.
This means God knows ahead of time those who, when presented with a trial or a choice by God will drop to their knees in repentance and prayer. An example of this is Hezekiah, who when told of his pending death prayed to the Lord. As a result God extended his life. God knew Hezekiah would turn to the Him in prayer. However, for Hezekiah’s sake God gave him the choice to help the spiritual growth of Hezekiah.
What this means for us is that God can allow trials to touch our lives in order to perform a spiritual work in someone He knows will respond correctly. After which the Lord brings the reward He planned from the beginning. Not because God changed His mind, but because God knew by allowing the trial, He would bring about spiritual growth in that individual.
(Malachi 3:6) “For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.”
One of the divine attributes of God is His immutability, which means God does not change. Another of His divine attributes is His omniscience which means God knows everything. He knows the end from the beginning. This should bring comfort to us as Christians because God not only knows our hearts, but His promises toward us never change.
However, sometimes God’s omniscience or foreknowledge can cause confusion for us, especially when reading various Bible passages. Because of the limitation of our language we can have trouble presenting the concept of God’s foreknowledge and therefore it can appear that God changed His mind. When in reality God has given choices to people in the Bible knowing ahead of time what their response would be.
This means God knows ahead of time those who, when presented with a trial or a choice by God will drop to their knees in repentance and prayer. An example of this is Hezekiah, who when told of his pending death prayed to the Lord. As a result God extended his life. God knew Hezekiah would turn to the Him in prayer. However, for Hezekiah’s sake God gave him the choice to help the spiritual growth of Hezekiah.
What this means for us is that God can allow trials to touch our lives in order to perform a spiritual work in someone He knows will respond correctly. After which the Lord brings the reward He planned from the beginning. Not because God changed His mind, but because God knew by allowing the trial, He would bring about spiritual growth in that individual.
Recent
Archive
Categories
no categories
1 Comment
We just finished 2 Kings 20, and we were talking about how we can go through spiritual ups and downs. Hezekiah sure did - just like David. We can see with the Messengers from Babylon that he had struggles with pride. I think that whatever God's main purposes for allowing trials are, they refine us even when we fail. But most importantly they get us to turn to the wall (Him). Personally, don't feel like I'm growing much spiritually because I keep failing the same tests over and over. But no matter how I feel I know He's growing me gradually because of His abilities not mine. I'm glad He's a personal Loving God that knows just what I need to grow up into His image.