Does God Change His Mind?

Does God Change His Mind?

Believe it or not, I hear this question more from Christians than I do non-believers.  Before I was even a Christian, I attended a Bible study where the leader said God changed His mind and quoted Jonah 3:10.  It bothered me for years, especially after I became a believer.  I guess deep down I believed if God is all knowing, what would cause Him to change His mind, but then Jonah 3:10 would come back to me.

I had settled that passage in my mind years later and was fine with it.  But, recently, I was confronted with 1 Chronicles 21:15, and the problem reared its ugly head once more.  Here are the verses so you can see what I mean:

Jonah 3:10 (ESV)
¹⁰  When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.

1 Chronicles 21:15 (ESV)
¹⁵  And God sent the angel to Jerusalem to destroy it, but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw, and he relented from the calamity. And he said to the angel who was working destruction, “It is enough; now stay your hand. . . . ”

 At first blush, these two passages do seem to say God does change His mind, but let’s look a little deeper at the verses.

God’s nature is to forgive those who repent. He shows this in both passages. The word translated “relent” in each verse is naham and is most often translated “comfort” in the sense of comforting yourself.   So, God’s love is involved here.  You see this in the way the NIV translates the verses:

Jonah 3:10 (NIV)
¹⁰  When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.

1 Chronicles 21:15 (NIV)
¹⁵  And God sent an angel to destroy Jerusalem. But as the angel was doing so, the LORD saw it and was grieved because of the calamity and said to the angel who was destroying the people, “Enough! Withdraw your hand. . . .”

God isn’t inconsistent, He is compassionate.  He grieves over needing to correct His children.  He has compassion over those who repent.  God is love, and His actions whether in discipline or in forgiveness come from love.

There is also a message here for us.  The 1 Chronicles passage points this out beautifully.  If we read the context we see that God will strike those who do not repent but will forgive those who do.  David saw the Angel of the Lord (Jesus) standing between heaven and earth (vs. 16).  He stands there for us still:

1 Timothy 2:5 (NIV)
⁵  For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,

Jesus stands between heaven and earth for us to plead the compassion of God on us sinners.

Now, on to the idea itself that God changes His mind. Let’s ask this, “If God is perfect, all-knowing, and all-good and were to Change His mind, would He change it for something better?” Well, no. If God is perfect and all-knowing, He would have already done what is best. “Could He change His mind to do something worse?” No. God is all-good. He could not choose something worse. So, just in what we know of God, it is illogical to think He could change His mind.

I hope this helps to clarify the idea that God might change His mind.  He doesn’t.  God is consistent, unchanging, and immutable.  When He promises something, He does it.  Fortunately, one of His promises is for eternal life to those who repent and turn to Him as their Lord.