God and Change

On 01-08-2007, I wrote about change as it relates to God. I said that God does not change. I have been asked to clarify this and I also want to think on what I mean when I say God does not change. I base my statements in part from Malachi 3:5 where God says He does not change and James 1:17 where it says there is no variation or shifting shadow in the Father of lights. What is the Bible referring to when it says that God does not change?

I think the word "change" referenced here is talking about the core of one's being. I have said this a dozen times at least – the character of God does not change. This is what is referenced when God says He does not change. He is not fickle. He is not variable. He is constant.

Let me use an earthly example to illustrate this idea. Suppose a child asks his dad for a treat. Today, the dad says yes and gives his son what he asks for. Tomorrow, dad notices his son not feeling well, and when the son asks for a treat, he says no. Did the dad change? He did answer differently then he had before, but his answer (we hope) was still consistent with the love for his son. He saw his son not feeling well and determined that a treat would not be beneficial to him.

A great example of this in Scripture is found in Genesis 18:16-33. In this passage we find Abraham asking God to spare the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah if a certain number of righteous people are found. Abraham keeps asking God for a smaller number: will you destroy them if only 30 righteous people are found? What about 20? Abraham goes from 50 to 10 and each time God promises Abraham He will not destroy the cities if He finds that number of righteous people in those cities. Now, I ask: was the purpose of this to change God or to change Abraham? Was the point to see how far God would go, or how much Abraham would ask of God? Does Abraham believe God enough to keep asking? If God grants him a request to spare cities if 10 righteous people are found, then God can be trusted in His promise to give Abraham a son (which did happen in Genesis 21). "Abraham believed God and it was reckoned to him as righteousness" (Gal. 3:6).

What does James 4 say – "You have not because you ask not" (4:2). What kind of God do we believe in? James goes on to say we do not receive because we ask with wrong motives (4:3). God is concerned with the motives of our heart when we make requests of Him. Many times the seeming different answers we receive are because of the different places we are at in our lives. It is not God changing, but God changing us.

I believe in a God to gives good gifts to His children. I believe in seeking and asking Him for things, making requests of Him. I believe that through persistent prayer, change does happen. But who changes – the Giver of the gift or the receiver? If God is goodness and love without limit, then His gift to me will not make Him more loving. But it might make me love Him more. Or through the refusal of the request, it might teach me that what I need is more of Him and less of things.

Christ in a parable of a persistent woman and unrighteous judge (Luke 18) asks, "Will not God bring about justice to His elect, who cry to Him day and night?" (18:7). God does so in accordance with Himself. I can be certain that my requests to Him are always heard by one who is the same. If God says no, it isn't because He isn't in a loving mood today.

There is so much more to this than I have time to write here. It is true that persistent prayer has motivated God to act differently. But is that action coming from a true change in God or from one Who delights in His children and acts in accordance with His character? Maybe we don't ask enough or even at all? Maybe what God wants from us is our pursuit of Him. And when He knows that we are after Him, He bestows on us what we ask. In our pursuit of our request, we are changed.

I think we may find in heaven that the "changes" we thought we got God to make were really part of His plan and purpose to conform us to Himself. When I am in prayer before God, a little of Him might just "rub off" on me.

I hope this provides some clarification to what I mean when I say that God does not change.