God never has to change His mind because He was “too” something earlier. He was never too loving, too patient, too angry, too judging – He’s not “too” at all. He’s just right, and always in accordance with His perfect character. Oh, the freedom that comes from knowing this truth.

“God is not a man who lies, or a son of man who changes His mind. Does He speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?” (Numbers 23:19).

God does not change His mind. The theological term for this is God’s immutability – that His character, His will, or His promises are firmly planted. They will not change. The human term for this is stubbornness, and we don’t think highly of people who are so immovable. We consider them to be hard-headed, arrogant, and unwilling to listen to reason or persuasion.

Surely you’ve known (or perhaps been?) that person so convinced of their own opinion, their own position, or their own preference that it’s like they have cotton stuffed into your ears. Someone can come and present with logic or emotion or both the reason why they should reconsider your actions, positions, preferences, or opinions, but it just doesn’t matter. They think what they think, do what they do, behave how they behave, and in their own eyes, they are right no matter what anyone else says.

It’s infuriating. But lest we take that same approach with God – that He is a deity of stubborn arrogance, we should reconsider. 

Much as it might be frustrating to see that characteristic in others or ourselves, the fact that God doesn’t change His mind is a good thing for us. A very good thing in fact. And here are 3 reasons why:

1.It means God has no new knowledge.

One of the reasons why we might change our minds, as humans, is simply because we are presented with new information about something. There is something we didn’t know about a circumstance or a person or an issue, and based on this new information, we are compelled to change the way we think about it. But if God never changes His mind, it means there is no new information to Him.

God knows every circumstance down to the molecular level. There is never a moment when He’s caught off guard or surprised; never an instance when He is shocked or dismayed. 

For us, who are constantly becoming aware of new bits of circumstantial information, this is a very good thing, because it means among other things that God is simply not surprised at that which is most shocking to us. Everything in your life right now, though it might be surprising to you, has not left God in a state of shock. Far from it, in fact.

2.It means God never learns anything new about Himself.

Sometimes we, as humans, change our minds because we learn something new about our intent, our motivation, or our feelings.

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