Does God Change His Mind?

NO, HE DOES NOT!  Read below and study some marvelous scriptures dealing with this fact of God’s character.

If God is immutable (Malachi 3:6), if He does not change at all, does that mean He never changes His mind either?  YES, IT MEANS JUST THAT.  HE DOESN’T CHANGE HIS MIND WHATSOVER!  THIS WOULD IMPLY THAT GOD MAKES MISTAKES.

Some theologians and teachers bring up the following example in Exodus 32:11-14 as a proof text that God changes His mind, when Moses entreated the Lord for Israel’s sake.

“Then Moses entreated the LORD his God, and said, O LORD, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people.  Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’” So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people.  (Exod. 32:11-14, NASB)

Even though at first glance, this might appear that God in fact changes His mind from time to time, particularly upon our beseeching Him in prayer, the person questioning God’s immutability needs to examine other correlating scripture as well to discover the true nature of God (Numbers 23:19, James 1:17, 1 Samuel 15:29).  I’m very thankful that God doesn’t make mistakes and doesn’t need to repent . GOD DOES NOT CHANGE HIS MIND!

In John 3:17 (the second verse after the John 3:16 verse that Tim Tebow loves to share so much with the world) is a wonderful promise to us, “For God did not send the Son into the world to judge the world, but that the world might be saved through Him.”  If we had just focused on another part of the Bible in the Old Testament, where God was sorry that He made man (Genesis 6:6), yet in God’s provision for us, as with Noah (read Genesis, Chapters 6, 7, and 8), we would see although God grieves over our sin, He truly loves us and desires that He become the object of our desire and affection.  In John 3:16, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.”

So, in asking questions (some border on being blasphemous) like “Can God Change His Mind?”, “Did God create evil?” or “Can God sin?” and before possibly wandering into errant doctrine and teaching, please study other correlating scriptures and spend time in the Word to understand the character of God.  Try not to arrive at a possibly heretical position by coming to a conclusion too quickly. In 2 Timothy 2:15, “15Be diligent to present yourself approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, accurately handling the word of truth.”  Also, remember 2 Timothy 3:16-17, “All Scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, for training in righteousness; so that the man of God may be adequate, equipped for every good work.”