Has God Ever Changed His Mind? (Part 2)

This is a multi part topic and this is the second in the series in asking the question, “Does God Change His Mind,” or has God set in motion everything that ever will happen? The “CHANGEABLENESS” of God is not in question as to whether God is reliable and consistent with his character and action, but does God change with regard to our behavior or heart attitude.

Theologians have tried to be consistent when it comes to their doctrinal beliefs, but they often compromise what God says or means in scripture to make it consistent with their doctrine. The loosing point is that scripture suffers and their doctrine is defended at all cost.

The first article on “Does God Change His Mind” dealt with the concern that if God doesn’t change, does that affect our motivation to pray as we are encouraged to do so in scripture? Does God never change his mind or does he? My belief is that God has positioned himself to change his actions, or inaction, often in response to the actions or inaction of people. God started out by giving man the choice to live by God’s directions or chose to violate those directions. Each choice we make would result in a consequence, good or bad. So, our choices set the stage for God’s blessing or curse.

Genesis 2:16-17

The LORD God commanded the man, saying, “From any tree of the garden you may eat freely; but from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat from it you will surely die.”

Adam’s and Eve’s son Cain was told the very same thing, that his choices are up to him and they had consequences. This instruction to Cain meant that, even after his parents were forced out of the garden of Eden, man still had the ability to choose and this choices made a difference

Genesis 4:6-7

Then the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will not your countenance be lifted up? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.”

The purpose of investigating this topic is to explore if our part makes a difference, and does that difference have the ability to change God’s mind about an action or not. The importance is paramount because it speaks to the trustworthiness of scripture, the reliability of God to do as he says he will do and thus the importance of our choices about if we pray, when we pray and how we pray.

In the first article we dealt with two major scripture references: 2 Chronicle 7:14 about if my people pray, and 2 Kings 20:1 about King Hezekiah being told by the prophet Isaiah that would die, then God changing his mind and giving the King 15 more years “BECAUSE” of his prayer and his tears.

The next major scripture is in Exodus 32, where God gets so angry with the children of Israel after freeing them from slavery because they rebelled against him. God says he will destroy them and build a new nation from Moses.

Exodus 32:9-10

The LORD said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and behold, they are an obstinate people. “Now then let Me alone, that My anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them; and I will make of you a great nation.”

God had promised the people of Israel the promised land and now he is ready to kill them all “EXCEPT” for Moses. First God changed his mind that instead of blessing Israel he will kill them. Was God lying when he promised the first promise to bless them or was he changing his mind based on the choices Israel made? I think it’s pretty obvious if you know scripture that God can not lie. In this instance God Obviously changed his mind.

Second, Moses, instead of taking advantage of an opportunity to be great, chooses to put God and his reputation first and intercedes on behalf of Israel. Moses asks God to change his mind, and for good reason.

Exodus 32:12 

“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.

Here is the amazing thing in this account: God changed his mind because of Moses’ prayer. Talk about clout with God! I wish that all of us who trust God with our lives would have the same boldness to ask and expect God to change his mind when we put God’s reputation first in our prayers. I am more persuaded that our prayers, though righteous sounding, are more self-serving than God-serving. We ask God to move in our church services because “WE” want the presence of God, not because we want him to be blessed by our love and devotion. We ask God to move in our families because we can’t bear the thought of loosing them, not because God deserves their love and loyalty.

God has placed prayer as a major avenue through which we encounter the living God’s presence, and because he desires to talk and communicate with us deeply. Prayer is meant to change things both in us and through us. Prayer was never meant to be an act of pretending or charades. It is meant to be life-changing all the way around if we pray according to the will and guidance of God. Make no mistake that God not only is willing to change his mind, he has offered to do so if people align themselves with him.

Jeremiah 26:13

Now therefore amend your ways and your deeds and obey the voice of the LORD your God; and the LORD will change His mind about the misfortune which He has pronounced against you but wants to for our good and the good of those we pray for.

It’s hard to fight against the flow of secular thinking. The culture doesn’t like deserters who don’t believe what they believe. Our job as Christians is not easy, but it is our calling if we have chosen to follow Jesus. What we can’t afford to do is think simply. We must think CRITICALLY, regardless of our education. we must consider what God said so long ago, “Let Us Reason Together,” meaning we need to let the Holy Spirit lead our thinking and not go it alone.

I will continue this topic on “Does God Change His Mind” in part 3 and dive deeper into this amazing idea that we can change God’s mind if we act according to his desired and revealed will, like Moses did.

Questions:

1) Are you stuck thinking that prayer is important but been told God never changes his mind? Study the scripture and stop listening to those teachers that confuse you

2) Have you wondered why your prayers don’t seem to make a difference?  Search the scriptures for the pattern of prayer that God requires like 2 Chronicles 7:14

May we exercise our mind and spirit to discern the ways of God more than we exercise our physical bodies,

Pastor Dale