I AM: Unchanging

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”
(Hebrews 13:8)

Imagine if you worshipped a deity that was powerful, yet changeable, impulsive, and unpredictable. He could rescind a promise at any time, take back a gift that was given for any reason, or change his mind about what his purpose is. Trust would be a very hard part of your personal relationship with the one that you worshipped if this was the case.

Thankfully, God and all of His attributes are entirely compatible with His immutability, His unchanging nature. “God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. Has he said, and he will not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?” (Numbers 23:19) God cannot and will not go from holy to unholy, sovereign to unsovereign, loving to unloving, faithful to unfaithful, or jealous to unjealous.

The wind changes with the shifts of atmosphere, the streams fill up one season and dry up another depending on the measure of precipitation, leaves on trees bud and flourish one month and then wither and fall off the next. The world around us is constantly evolving. Our bodies grow with health and strength then as age and circumstance takes a toll we slowly begin to decay and our bodies begin to fail us. Our emotions alter from happiness when we experience gain to sadness when we experience loss. Unlike The Creator, all of His creatures are in constant transformation. Even when we are changing He is not. “If we are faithless, He remains faithful – for He cannot deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13) If there is a time in our walk where we may lose faith in His love for us, is that His fault or His doing? Absolutely not, we are the variable in this equation while He is the constant. Our relationship with the Lord rests solely in our hands.

Along with the great I AM’s immutability is His Unchanging Word. Isaiah 40:8 tells us, “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of our God will stand forever.” As believers, we have a beautifully constant reference to turn to when we have questions, fears, or doubts. His answers are in The Word and they will never change. God’s word is as rock solid as Himself.

Another comforting characteristic about God’s unchanging nature, is His purpose. “The LORD of hosts has sworn: As I have planned so it shall be, as I have purposed, so it shall stand,” (Isaiah 14:24) He set out His purpose before the beginning of time and He has never faltered from His plan, ever. His purpose for your life and every single life He creates is all according to His plan, not our own. He wants us to make the decision to live for Him according to His purpose. When God makes a covenant, it remains. His plans are not affect by unfaithful, ever-changing man. Children of God can take comfort in praying to a God whose plans do not change every single minute. God will bring to pass what he has planned for from the beginning of creation just as the psalmist tells us in chapter 33, verse 11, “The counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations.” 

Most importantly, because our God is unchanging so is our salvation. “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) Once we run into our Savior’s arms in faith, we have God’s oath that we will be saved. Not because we are faithful, but because He is. Period. Salvation is the most perfect gift of all, given by our immutable God. As you sit here and read this, I pray that if you have not accepted this precious gift, you will surrender and claim Jesus as your Lord and grow to know and trust this unchanging God.

Sweet sisters, those of us who are hurting, lonely, grieved, angry, or suffering from the circumstance that surround us through our precious little ones who are no longer with us, please take heart in knowing that God has not left our side nor has He changed His mind about how important we are to Him. No matter how we react, He has not changed. He is standing for us when we can’t, He has sent the Holy Spirit to interpret our groans, and He is constantly fighting for our love and attention. God is as good today as He was before we knew this deep knitted pain of not holding our babies. As bereaved mothers and Christ lovers we can be grateful knowing that when everything else around us seems to be spinning out of control, He is our Rock in the storm. He will hold us firm and never falter.

Unchanging
-Chris Tomlin

Great is Your faithfulness
Great is Your faithfulness
You never change
You never fail, O God

True are Your promises
True are Your promises
You never change
You never fail, O God

So we raise up holy hands
To praise the Holy One
Who was and is and is to come

Wide is Your love and grace
Wide is Your love and grace
You never change
You never fail, O God

You were, You are
You will always be

For more posts in this series follow the links below:
I AM: Yahweh
I AM: Holy
I AM: Sovereign
I AM: Love
I AM: Faithful
I AM: Jealous

Calli Williams is a passionate Christ follower. Calli is married to Jared, and has six children: Gavyn, Grant, Bertie, Gwyneth, Blair, who has been in Glory since November 2014, and Brynne is expected to join their family in November 2015. She enjoys spending time with her family, reading when she can steal a quiet moment, using her creativity to craft, and splurging on anything chocolate

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