The unchanging God: What Does It Mean That God Does Not Change?
- Vicent Nemeyimana
- November 29, 2016
- Uncategorized
Every person, at least every Christians has ever used those words during prayer, and I would love to elaborate more about their meanings. Actually, we have called our God names like All knowing, powerful, merciful, gracious, love, forgiving, kind, everlasting, faithful and so much more, but rarely have we considered the serious meanings of such words and what exactly our God can do to or for us basing on such virtues in Him. Yes, we will try to look at each everyday or every time, and today we want to know what it means to have unchanging God.
For those who read my expositions in relation to predestination, we agreed that our destinies are already known to God and nothing can be done to change them. However, we agreed that this is because He is all knowing and can look clearly into our future and not because He controls our future (to be sure, He does not dictate our decisions and daily choices though He knows beforehand what we are going to do). And yet even what we do is under His mighty directive, Him making it possible and us really doing it (secondly cause, we shall come back to this later).
That said, I want you to know that whatever God promised to do for you or for anyone cannot be changed or be turned back because of anything else other than His will. In other words, even when you sin, even when you misbehave, even when you ignore His ways, there is nothing that can change with your destiny or promises unless God wills so. What am I saying? I am not saying that things are impossible to change; I am saying that they can only do so if God wills so.
Read this carefully; God does not need us to be perfect. He was perfect, full, complete, happy and real God before we were created and He can be that same complete God without us. While God can be angry, oh no, let us put it well, can be made angry, happy, excited, prayerful, and even to cry, it is only possible if He Himself wills so.
In other words, nothing can happen out of His will. We cannot please God or make Him angry if He does not choose to be, that is what makes Him unchanging God. His plans for our lives; His promises to our children; His favors for us everyday have little to do, if not nothing with us, with our actions, behaviors and thoughts, but entirely with His will. That makes Him unchanging God.
However, we have many records in the bible of God changing His mind about people and situations: Take up the story of King Hezekiah. God has said he would die but the king asked for more life and God said yes. Take an example of Jonah and the city of Nineveh. God had promised to destroy them and actually the message of Jonah to them was for them to do the countdown, they instead repented and asked Him to change His mind about them and He did. The stories of Gomorrah and Sodom show God bargaining with Abraham and literally changing His plans according to Abraham’s information.
All these examples portray literally or clearly God changing His mind yet He remains unchanging God because nothing actually caused Him to change His mind other than His will.
To openly say God cannot change His plan for us or our destiny is to limit God. I do not think it is even right to use the word ‘CANNOT’ for God yet we know He can do everything. But really, we are saying our God is true to Himself, to His will, and what He is. All that He does are according to His will. In other words, our destiny or what God promised us is rightfully protected by His will and mightiness and cannot be changed by us misbehaving or our enemies praying badly about it.
So what does it mean when we say we need to pray and stay in position for our promises to come true? Our God at times wills so that when we stand in our positions and look up to Him, He will bless us and that is what we are doing. In other words, it is still not our too much praying or good works that make Him bless us, but still His will to bless those who seek His face. In other words, our prayers don’t move Him, they move us into His will.
I know this is a complex concept, oh, I mean it is a complex theological explanation, but let me summarize it down here:
Our God wills so that we His people find life, full life with Him. In other words, nothing done by us, Satan or our other fellow Humans can deprives us of the promises or destinies God put for us (I just hope we now know our predestined destinies cannot be changed).
To be clear, our destinies are either to live eternally with Christ or to live in eternal punishment. We can decide upon our destinies, but we cannot sign up for eternal life and then we have the different destiny. In other words, those in Christ are predestined to life and those without Christ to death. Our God is unchanging for He cannot take away His promises to us or His good plans for us simply because we have not been faithful or done well. This makes Him God and the one to be trusted for He cannot wake up one morning and just say the deal is over.
But we can know God’s will when He wants us to and one of his wills is to embrace those who seek His face. James 4:8 puts it well, “Come near to God and He will get nearer to you too”. In other words, our faith and godly living is necessary to search, know and fall into His will. In other words, we do not get saved or become Christians to make Him do what He could not do for us, but fall into His already designed will for those who love Him.
God bless you
If you have been helped with this inspiration, just say Amen. And if you have not yet received Christ as your Lord and Savior today is your day, could you repeat this prayer after me? “Oh dear Jesus, I know I have been a wanderer for so long, but today I want to find rest in you. I am a sinner and have been fighting for myself, but today I call for your forgiveness and adopting me as your child. Please, accept me and write me in the book of life. Amen”. Now, look up to God for all your answers and comfort in life. Find a good church near you and be part of the congregation
