Originally posted 9/30/25
Just the thought of change can send some into cold sweats. Some changes are good while some are detrimental. Our life can change with the death of a parent, a spouse, a child, or even a close friend. The loss of a job can bring a life change. We can receive the dreaded news of a health crisis. Yet the birth of a child brings joyous changes. We can accept a new job that brings a desired change.
How do you view change? Do you fight it at every turn or do you embrace it? Personally, I am not opposed to change if it is for a good reason. I don’t like to change just for the sake of changing. I saw a great deal of change during the years I was an educator. I have recently entered the world of full-retirement. While I love being retired, our lives have changed. We are adjusting to less disposable income.
There is one thing that is for certain. God never changes. This article will examine the immutability of God. The word “immutable” simply means that something or someone is unchangeable. Jen Wilkin writes in her book, None Like Him, “God stands unchanging, immutable, anchoring the landscape of human existence as all else around him ebbs and flows, blossoms and withers, waxes and wanes. The Rock of our salvation endures.” p. 84
Scripture speaks about God’s nature:
- Psalm 18:31, “For who is God, but the LORD? And who is a rock, except our God?”
- Malachi 3:6, “For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.”
- Matthew 7:24-27, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8, “Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; 6 it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. Love never ends. As for prophecies, they will pass away; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will pass away.”
- Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
- James 1:17, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
It brings me comfort that God cannot change. He is unable to change. He cannot learn anything new or forget anything. His nature is unchangeable. In his book,
In the book, Knowledge of the Holy: Understanding the Attributes and Nature of God, AW Pink writes, “God cannot change for the better. Since He is perfectly holy, He has never been less holy than He is now and can never be holier than He is and has always been. Neither can God change for the worse. Any deterioration within the unspeakably holy nature of God is impossible.” p 76
We recently lost my Mother-in-law after a five year battle with cancer. We knew the change was coming, yet it didn’t make it easier. My in-laws had been married for 65 years. They did very little without the other. She had always been a strong presence in our lives and in the lives of our children. The change would brought both sorrow and joy. We clung to the immutability of God through all of it. She was a believer and we knew for certain that when her time here ended, she would be in heaven with the Lord. He would not change his mind and reject her in heaven.
Many times we will blow things off and say that we are unable to change. Do you battle with a weight problem like me? Do you know you should make different food choices, but yet you do not? We can make all sorts of changes. Some changes are good and some are not. As a new retiree, the pull to become lazy has been strong. I struggle with accomplishing something each day. It would be so easy to just fall into the habit of watching Netflix all day all while accomplishing nothing. “The immutability of God appears in its most perfect beauty when viewed against the mutability of men. In God no change is possible; in men change is impossible to escape. Neither the man is fixed nor his world, but he and it are in constant flux. Each man appears for a little while to laugh and weep, to work and play, and then to go to make room for those who shall follow him in the never-ending cycle.” Pink p.78
Pink also writes, “What peace it brings to the Christian’s heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. Incoming to Him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when He will see no one. Neither does He change His mind about anything. Today, this moment, He feels toward His creatures, toward babies, toward the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to die for mankind.” Pink p 82
I change my mind a lot. Sometimes I let my emotions drive my decisions. God does not do that. He is not someone who thinks emotionally. He makes the correct decision each and every time. He is truly incapable of changing his nature. Because he is incapable of change, we can rely on Him and the truth of Scripture.
“As long as his infinite sameness endures, he will not change his mind about setting his love on us. We cannot commit a future sin that will change his verdict, because his verdict was passed with every sin past, present, and future fixed in view. Who God pronounces righteous will always be righteous. Nothing we could do can remove from us the seal of his promised redemption. Nothing can separate us from the unfailing, unchanging love of this great God, the Rock of our salvation upon which the house of our faith is built.” Wilkin, p. 85
Prayer
Father God,
Thank you for being immutable. We can take such comfort from trusting in you and in your nature. While we cannot fully understand the concept of immutability, we can trust it completely. You are a sovereign God. Your Word tells us that you are the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow. Thank you seems inadequate, but I offer it anyway. I pray for your continued presence in all of our lives.
In Jesus Name,
Amen
Link to other Attributes of God articles:
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