Very comforting chapter. I don't often think of this attribute. But the fact that our God is unchanging through all, through every changing circumstance, through every decision we make, through our roller coaster of life, He is our Rock....and I'm so thankful for that sure foundation.
"God is perpetually the same: subject to no change in his being, attributes, or determinations."
"Thirdly, God is immutable in his counsel. His will never varies. Perhaps some are ready to object that we ought to read the following: "And it repented the Lord that he had made man" (Gen. 6:6). Our first reply is, Then do the Scriptures contradict themselves? No, that cannot be. Numbers 23:19 is plain enough: "God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent." So also 1 Samuel 15:29, "The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent." The explanation is very simple. When speaking of himself, God frequently accommodates his language to our limited capacities, He describes himself as clothed with bodily members, as eyes, ears, hands, etc. He speaks of himself as "walking" (Ps. 78:65), as "rising early" (Jer. 7:13); yet neither slumbers nor sleeps. When he institutes a change in his dealings with men, he describes his course of conduct as "repenting.""
"Change and decay in all around we see, may he who changeth not abide with thee."
"Herein is solid comfort. Human nature cannot be relied upon; but God can! However unstable I may be, however fickle my friends may prove, God changes not. If he varied as we do, if he willed one thing today and another tomorrow, if he were controlled be caprice, who could confide in him? But, all praise to his glorious name, he is ever the same. His purpose is fixed, his will is stable, his word is sure. Here then is a rock on which we may fix our feet, while the mighty torrent is sweeping away everything around us. The permanence of God's character guarantees the fulfillment of his promises: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, nether shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee" (Isa. 54:10)."
"Should someone ask, But what is the use of praying to one whose will is already fixed? We answer, Because he requires it. What blessings has God promised without our seeking them? "If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14), and he has willed everything that is for his child's good. To ask anything contrary to his will is not prayer, but rank rebellion."
"God is perpetually the same: subject to no change in his being, attributes, or determinations."
"Thirdly, God is immutable in his counsel. His will never varies. Perhaps some are ready to object that we ought to read the following: "And it repented the Lord that he had made man" (Gen. 6:6). Our first reply is, Then do the Scriptures contradict themselves? No, that cannot be. Numbers 23:19 is plain enough: "God is not a man, that he should lie, neither the son of man, that he should repent." So also 1 Samuel 15:29, "The strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for he is not a man, that he should repent." The explanation is very simple. When speaking of himself, God frequently accommodates his language to our limited capacities, He describes himself as clothed with bodily members, as eyes, ears, hands, etc. He speaks of himself as "walking" (Ps. 78:65), as "rising early" (Jer. 7:13); yet neither slumbers nor sleeps. When he institutes a change in his dealings with men, he describes his course of conduct as "repenting.""
"Change and decay in all around we see, may he who changeth not abide with thee."
"Herein is solid comfort. Human nature cannot be relied upon; but God can! However unstable I may be, however fickle my friends may prove, God changes not. If he varied as we do, if he willed one thing today and another tomorrow, if he were controlled be caprice, who could confide in him? But, all praise to his glorious name, he is ever the same. His purpose is fixed, his will is stable, his word is sure. Here then is a rock on which we may fix our feet, while the mighty torrent is sweeping away everything around us. The permanence of God's character guarantees the fulfillment of his promises: "For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from thee, nether shall the covenant of my peace be removed, saith the Lord that hath mercy on thee" (Isa. 54:10)."
"Should someone ask, But what is the use of praying to one whose will is already fixed? We answer, Because he requires it. What blessings has God promised without our seeking them? "If we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us" (1 John 5:14), and he has willed everything that is for his child's good. To ask anything contrary to his will is not prayer, but rank rebellion."
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