The Immutability Of God

Feb 8, 2023

If I think back to the moments where my heart broke the most, it was because something, or someone, changed.

The diagnosis changed, the employment status changed, the state of the nation changed, the friend changed.

Change seems to be one of the few things that universally unites all people. We all experience it. It’s inevitable. And while often change can be beautiful: a new baby, a new career, a new endeavor… change is often heartbreaking: a new health struggle, a new relationship status, a new stressor. And I might even argue that all change has some twinge of sadness. New always brings the process of grieving over the old.

Tired, weary hearts long for one thing that won’t change. One person who won’t change. All will fail until we look toward God.

When I read A.W. Tozer’s book, Knowledge of the Holy, in college, the attribute of God that most stuck with me was His immutability. Defined as “unable to be changed,” a core part of God’s character is His immutability. Because He is omniscient, eternal, and perfect - He does not change.

We see this throughout scripture:

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Hebrews 13:8

For I the Lord do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed. Malachi 3:6

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

The truth of God’s immutability goes against all that we know as broken human beings.

We are always waiting for the next ball to drop. Waiting for the next battle we will have to fight. The next person or thing that will disappoint. Then we meet a God who never leaves, never fails, never abandons, and never changes His mind. He doesn’t need us to work harder or prove ourselves to Him, because we could never do anything to change His mind anyway. And humanity takes a collective sigh of relief as we ease into the arms of a God who eternally loves and chooses us.

A.W. Tozer writes:

“In this world where men forget us, change their attitude toward us as their private interests dictate, and revise their opinion of us for the slightest cause, is it not a source of wondrous strength to know that the God with whom we have to do changes not?... What peace it brings to the Christian’s heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself… Today, this moment, He feels toward His creatures, toward babies, toward the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as He did when He sent His only-begotten Son into the world to die for mankind. God never changes moods or cools off in His affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when He drove out the sinful man from the eastward garden, and His attitude toward the sinner the same as when He stretched forth His hands and cried, ‘Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’”

Friend, if your heart is tired from all of the change. If your heart is tired from your own ever changing desires and bent towards sinfulness. If your heart is tired from the people who have changed their mind and broke you in the process. If your heart is tired from a world that always wants something different, newer, younger, more exciting…. Rest easy, sweet brother, sweet sister. There is a God who never changes His mind about you. There is a God whose love is immutable, eternal, and forever yours, if you’ll receive it.

Feel His peace wash over you. Hear His voice remind you: “I’m still here, I’m not going anywhere, even when all else fails, I won’t change on you.”