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Prepare Your Heart

To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.

Read God’s Word

Jonah 1-4
Revelation 12:18-13:18

A Verse for Today

Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.

Jonah 3:10 (CSB): “God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.”

Reflecting on God’s Word

In Jonah 3:10, did you notice the word “relent?” That word doesn’t sound so harsh and as complex as the KJV when it uses the word “repent.”

Jonah 3:10 (CSB): “And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.”

“Wait a minute!” God repented!?

Then we get to the New Living Translation, which says, “God changed His mind.” Wait?! What?!

Jonah 3:10 (CSB): “When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.”

How are we to think about all of this? Does God need to repent? Does He actually change His mind? What about the following verses?

Numbers 23:19 (CSB): “God is not a man, that he might lie, or a son of man, that he might change his mind. Does he speak and not act, or promise and not fulfill?”

1 Samuel 15:29 (CSB): “Furthermore, the Eternal One of Israel does not lie or change his mind, for he is not man who changes his mind.”

Malachi 3:6 (CSB): “Because I, the LORD, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.”

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

James 1:17 (CSB): “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.“

So, all of the previous verses say that God doesn’t change, and yet Jonah clearly tells us that God changed His mind (relented/repented). How are we to reconcile this?

For many years, I would have affirmed that the Bible didn’t contradict itself, even as I would try to overlook apparent conflicts like this. I could not explain them, so I ignored them. If I really dig into my mindset, I have to admit that I wasn’t convinced the Bible could stand up to the standard I claimed it had.

But as I have spent many years digging into God’s Word, I am more certain now of the truthfulness and inerrancy of Scripture than I have ever been. And I don’t avoid troublesome passages. I dive right into them because I am thoroughly convinced that if I rightly understand them, the Bible will remain the one book that has a record of “0” regarding irreconcilable conflicts in its original writings. With conviction, I can say that the Bible, in its original form, does not contradict itself in anything!

So, how do we make sense of God repenting/relenting/changing His mind when we are told repeatedly that God doesn’t change?

Honestly, it’s relatively easy to understand and reconcile.

God does not change in His essence. He does not change in His knowledge, His power, His will, or anything else regarding His essence, His attributes, His decrees, or anything else that is similar to the previously mentioned categories. God never improves or diminishes. He has been, is, and always will be perfect in His being and attributes and decrees.

This is what the Bible means when it says God does not change.

But …

God DOES change regarding how He responds to different scenarios.

For instance, when a Jesus-follower is engaged in sin and refuses to repent, God will move in discipline and maybe even judgment. He loves His children and will discipline them with a desire to bring them back into a relationship with Him.

But if a wayward child of God repents, confesses their sin(s), receives God’s forgiveness, and returns to a life of obedience, then God changes how He relates to them. He will not continue to bring discipline into their lives. Instead, He will respond with love, grace, and everything else He delights to bring into the life of an obedient child.

In this scenario, God did not change in His essence, attributes, or decrees. However, He DID change in the way He responded to an individual who repented.

Stated again, when an individual repents of sin and turns back to the Lord, then the Lord changes how He relates to them.

In the book of Jonah, God moved against Jonah until Jonah repented in chapter 2. Then, God moved in grace in Jonah’s life, enabling him to have an effective ministry in Nineveh (even though Jonah despised the Ninevites).

We also read that God was prepared to move in judgment on the residents of Nineveh as they embraced all kinds of sin. But when they repented, God changed how He related to them because the situation changed. The people changed, so God changed how he related to them.

God does not change in His essence, attributes, or decrees. But He does change in how He responds to different scenarios.

Spend Time in Prayer

  • Ask God to help you never be afraid to study His Word, especially the difficult passages.
  • Ask God to help you come to understand what the Word says about Him so that you can have an accurate understanding of the God you serve and love.

Going Deeper

If you want to dig a little deeper into whether God can change His mind, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:

“Does God change His mind?”

Sharing

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Matt Ellis is the pastor of White Hall Baptist Church in Richmond, Kentucky (whitehallbaptistchurch.org)