Immutable Comfort

One of the hardest things for me to get my head around is God’s immutability. The fact that he never changes, nor ever will change, in any way, throughout eternity, is baffling. First of all it’s hard for us to even understand his eternal existence because we just try to imagine him as far back as we possibly can, but even then he was exactly the same as he is now. He hasn’t grown, he hasn’t learned, he hasn’t adapted to anything, He’s just I AM. Because he’s perfect he can’t get any better, and because he’s infallible he can’t get any worse.

Furthermore, he doesn’t even change his mind. Psalm 33:11 says “The counsel of the Lord stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” But what’s amazing is that He knows that it’s impossible for us to understand that so he speaks of himself in terms we can comprehend. For example, there are a few times in scripture in which it seems that God is changing his mind (e.g. the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah), but this is only his relating to us in human terms. See, he exists outside of time and doesn't experience existence as a sucession of events, but acts inside of time when relating to his creation. So man acts in a certain way at Time A and God acts in time to respond to him based on the circumstances. Then, when the circumstances change at Time B, he acts in time again, still based on his unchanging plan, but in relation to different circumstances. He is still acting consistently with his plan and character, but the circumstances that he is acting towards (us) have changed.

One of the reasons that this is so hard for us to understand is that it’s not a part of our existence at all. We are constantly changing, every second of every day throughout our lives. We’ve never experienced immutability of any sort. The closest thing we could think of might be a rock (which still changes) and we see God compared to a rock throughout scripture. It’s part of what separates the creation from the Creator, to be unchangeable is to be God.

But it’s this very difference that makes him our comfort. Highs and lows, problems, disasters, and difficulties are all results of change and a part of the sinful human condition, but our foundation is immutable. We make a decision today, we change our minds or fail at it tomorrow, but nothing has changed with God. We have no reason to pray – if not for his immutability. We have no reason to worship – if not for his immutability. We have no reason for hope – if not for his immutability. Our salvation comes through his unchanging character.

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 (James 1:17)

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed (Mal. 3:6)

Think about it.