November 2, 2022

JD Wilhelm
"For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, have not perished. Ever since the days of your ancestors you have turned aside from my statutes and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you, says the LORD of hosts."
Malachi 3:6-7

According to this passage, the reason that Israel continues to survive is due to God’s unchanging nature. To put this in more theological terms, this is to say that God is immutable. A. W. Tozer years ago wrote, “To say that God is immutable is to say that He never differs from himself.” The concept of a growing, changing, or developing God is nowhere to be found in the Scriptures. God simply does not vary from Himself in any way. God made a covenant with Israel, therefore He is faithful to fulfill His covenant promises.

The unchanging nature of God appears in its most beautiful way when viewed against the fickle nature of human beings. In God, no change is possible; in humans, change is impossible for us to escape. For us, the very ability to change is the greatest gift. It is worth more than anything. To quote Tozer again, “For human beings the whole possibility of redemption lies in their ability to change.” You see, the nature of sin is not all this bad stuff that we do. It is simply the word no. Where God says yes to us, we often say no and walk away from Him. But here is the important thing about God: He continues to say yes to us even when we say no to Him. The act of faith is simply turning back to God and saying yes to Him. “Return to me, and I will return to you.” We call it all sorts of things — accepting Jesus, calling Jesus our Lord and Savior, coming to faith in Jesus — but really, it is this simple thing: turning to God and saying yes to Him. The reality is God is here, right now, saying yes if we would only respond.