Day 43
God Never Changes
Read your Bible: Psalm 36
Spotlight Verse:
Your love, Lord, reaches to the heavens, your faithfulness to the skies.Psalm 36:5
Ever worry about whether you’re going to heaven? Wonder if you are “still saved”?
When we first moved to Santa Cruz, my daughter Elisabeth was just eighteen months old. We took her one day to a beachside amusement park, and rode on the Sky Ride, which is something like a chair lift: You sit on a bench which hangs from a cable 20 or 30 feet in the air as you glide over the park, your legs dangling.
And right after we reached the middle of the ride, Elisabeth started freaking out.
She was one car behind me with my wife Laurie, and as I looked back to find out why Elisabeth was screaming I saw her squirm away from Laurie, trying to get out of the gondola, slipping under the safety bar…
Laurie says she’s never felt an adrenaline rush like that before! She grabbed Elisabeth and held on for dear life — Elisabeth’s life! As I watched helplessly, Elisabeth pushed Laurie away, letting go of her several times. Her sandals came off and spiraled to the sand 30 feet below.
But Laurie never let go of Elisabeth. I watched my wife in true mama-bear mode, straining with all her might to prevent that child from slipping away. Why? Well, because my wife loves her daughter! Fiercely!
There are times in your life when you squirm and twist and want to get away from God. And you may in fact let go of Him. But God does not let go of you. Why? Because He loves you. Fiercely.
Jesus said of His followers:
“I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.” John 10:28–29 (NLT)
God’s faithfulness to you is just one implication of the unchanging nature of God.
God Is Rock Solid
Theologians refer to this as immutability of God. This means He is unchangeable, consistent, rock solid, always reliable. What He was, He always will be. He never changes.
Everything else I see in my world changes. My house needs paint. My car is rusting. I’m aging. Even the 2,000-year-old redwood trees in the hills near my house change.
Everything changes. Except God.
I used to wonder — how can that be true? After all, God is not inactive; God did create the universe. The Word did become flesh. So doesn’t that mean God changes?
Of course, God is active. God responds. God creates. In that sense God does change because He changes His activity. (Or I should say, from our perspective He changes His activity. If God is outside of time and space, then He is “always active and always at rest”, as Augustine pointed out).
But immutability means God’s attributes don’t change. God’s character doesn’t change. He will always be all the things we have seen in this study:
Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens. He never changes or casts a shifting shadow. James 1:17 (NLT)
He who is the Glory of Israel does not lie or change his mind; for he is not a human being, that he should change his mind. 1 Samuel 15:29
Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8
God Is Faithful
It’s one of the most “other” attributes of God: He never changes!
What else can you really count on in life to never change?
You can’t count on your employer. Companies get bought, and workers laid off, all the time.
You can’t count on your stock portfolio.
You can’t count on the government.
You can’t count on the economy.
You can’t count on the weather.
Maybe other people have proven to you just how changeable human loyalties can be. Someone said “I love you.” Then changed their mind. Someone promised you forever. But didn’t mean it.
Know this:
God is not a man, that he should lie, nor a son of man, that he should change his mind. Does he speak and then not act? Does he promise and not fulfill?
Numbers 23:19 (NIV, 1984)
The Lord is trustworthy in all he promises and faithful in all he does. Psalm 145:13b
Note that phrase: “Trustworthy in all He promises.”
There are over 7,000 promises in the Bible. God is faithful and trustworthy to fulfill them all. Like this:
He will keep you strong to the end so that you will be free from all blame on the day when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. God will do this, for he is faithful to do what he says… 1 Corinthians 1:8–9a (NLT)
Next time you feel insecure in your standing with God, remind yourself: God is faithful to all His promises, including His promise to save those who trust in Him. He will never let you go.
God is… immutable.
Questions For Reflection
In what way are you struggling with feeling insecure in your relationship with God?
What difference does it make to you to believe God is totally reliable, faithful, steady, and unchangeable?
