God doesn’t change

God doesn’t change. God hasn’t changed.  God won’t change.  God can’t change.

God is what He is. God is what He always has been.  And God will always be what He has always been.

In contrast, our lives know only change.  We get older (and weaker and ultimately, frail).  Our children get older.  Our job responsibilities inevitably change, as do the people with whom we work.  The weather changes (often hourly, in Texas!).  Our neighbors and neighborhoods change.  Our finances increase and decrease.  Our relationships change — sometimes deteriorating into brokenness and other times morphing into something sweeter and more delightful — but they are never stagnant.  Our strength and stamina change.  And in COVID-19, I have learned that while my hair is generally short, given even just a few weeks, and it can be put into pony tails (NO, I’m not sharing those pictures!).

But God does not change.  He does not develop.  He does not mature.  He does not decline in ability.  He does not age.  No matter how much power He expends, His strength is never diminished in the slightest.  He never has even a single moment of lack of clarity or understanding.  His wrath is never diminished and His grace is always overflowing.  His joy and satisfaction are always complete.  His love is always full.  His wisdom is always perfect.  His salvation always endures.  Nothing about God ever changes.

We saw that truth last Sunday in Psalm 102 (particularly in vv. 23-28).  And that same truth is affirmed repeatedly in other Scriptures.  Consider just a few affirmations of God’s unchanging nature:

“For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed.” (Mal. 3:6)

God is faithful, through whom you were called into fellowship with His Son, Jesus Christ our Lord. (1 Cor. 1:9)

Faithful is He who calls you, and He also will bring it to pass. (1 Thess. 5:24)

If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself. (2 Tim. 2:13)

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. (Heb. 13:8)

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:17)

God is faithful to Himself — He is true to His character and nature — such that it is an impossibility for Him to change in any respect.  He cannot “improve,” “decline,” or become more mature.  He is self-existent, self-sufficient, infinite, and eternal, and to change would mean none of those characteristics are true.

Because He is unchanging, He is also our protection and hope (confidence).  When things change, we are foolish to seek refuge in other things that change.  If financial markets change regularly, when our investment accounts plummet why would we seek refuge in those same changing markets, (wishfully) hoping they revive?  If our physical strength is destined to wane, why would we be confident in our gym membership to strengthen us?  If relationships change, why would we seek solace in more (or different) relationships?

There is one place of refuge in our ever-changing world.  Our refuge and hope is to turn to the One who does not change, and be confident in Him.  We are confident not that COVID-19 will end or that worship will return in the same way or that our retirement account will be restored or that relationships will be repaired or that jobs will return.  We are confident that even if none of those things happen, we have everything we need in Christ and can be satisfied and content in Him.

Our world changes.  Our world can only change.  Our world has no capacity to remain static.

God does not change.  God hasn’t changed.  God won’t change.  God can’t change.

Trust Him.  Find your joy in Him.