Do I want God to change?

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.

Heb 13:8

 

Life is made up of moments.   Some are spectacular, unforgettable, and sweet.   There are also moments you wish would never happen --those moments where the bad news comes, and you know life will forever change.   We never know what the next phone call or breaking news story will hold…indeed, life is always changing by the moment.   Some thrive on change and make their dollar marketing change whether it be in the fashion world (oh, how I miss my 80s leg warmers) or political arena.   We are a people simultaneously drawn to and running away from change.   It both excites us and terrifies us, and there is nothing we can do to stop it.  

 

And then there is God.   He says He does not change. “Yes, yes”, we say “we know that”.  We say we take comfort in the rock-steady, unchanging nature of our God.  Yet deep down do we really believe He does not change?  Or do we, in fact, really want to believe He is changeless only about some things.   Incredibly, some rest in the fact of His unchanging love while simultaneously living as if He might have changed His view on certain sins.  Perhaps seeing the obvious problems with overpopulation and unwanted, inconvenient pregnancies, God has evolved in His views on the sanctity of life?  Perhaps, He really didn’t mean what He said in His Bible about divorce, adultery and homosexuality?  Ouch.!   Those are hard things --political things.  

 

But God is not a political god.   He doesn’t take an opinion poll and then take a stand.   No.  He is God and He says He does not change.   Would you really want Him to?   Would you want Him to forgive your sins and then decide you just aren’t worth it?   Would you want Him to promise you Heaven and then decide He has better options?   Don’t we desperately need to know we can count on God not to change what He has said? Would you want Him to tell you that the blood of His precious Son (that you are counting on to cover all your sins) is no longer an acceptable payment for your sin debt?  

 

Try as we may, we can’t have it both ways.   No, somewhere in the deepest part of us we have a desperate need to know really know God is indeed the same, yesterday, today and forever.   While He is all good, full of mercy and standing with open arms completely willing to forgive our sins—He does not redefine sin from one generation to the next.   He can’t change His nature, and we would be insane to want Him to be able to do so.   For those who call upon Him as Lord - He is also rock.   He is firm foundation in a world filled with sinking sand.   His changelessness is hope to be counted on.  He is our “true north”, and when we follow Him, we find rest for our weary, bounced-around-by-the-world and all its opinion souls. 

 

Prayer - Father, You are God and I am not.  Thank you.   My emotions are apt to change by the minute.   So also are the emotions of those around me.   Help me to rest in your unchanging love and follow your always-for-us ways.   Thank you that in the same passage of scripture where you tell me you will never leave me nor forsake me you also tell me you will not change (Heb 13) .   Help me to remember those truths when life gets hard, when the things I have counted on seem to fail me, help me to remember there is rest in your unchanging love.   Thank you Lord for being my rock.  Amen.