Does God change his mind?

[tonychanyt]

See Does God change his mind?

 

[Mark Quayle]

Numbers 23:

A man may change his mind. God as a divine being is immutable, i.e., his character does not change.

God planned to destroy the Israelites and Moses interceded in (NASB 1995) Exodus 32:

This was a case of anthropomorphism. By attributing a human quality to the LORD: he changed his mind like a man. By treating God as if he were a man, the Israelites could interact with God in this frame of convention.

In his divine attribute, God never changes his mind but in terms of the anthropomorphic convention, he did while he was interacting with human beings.

God is not man, that he should change his mind, it says elsewhere; and scripture does not contradict scripture. I like the way this is put, I saw on a quick search, "The phrase "God is not man that he should change his mind" is from the Bible, 1 Samuel 15:29. The verse means that God is not like humans who change their minds and break their words. God never changes his mind and therefore never recalls his promise. When in Scripture he is said to repent, it does not mean any change of his mind; but only a change of his way."

God is not like us, and his mind is not like ours. God can change what WE see him doing, and is not lying for him to express it in a way to which we can relate.

 

[Blade]

If God knows all.. if He knows the end from the beginning.. then what He said He would do yet later said He would not.. He already knew this before

 

[Halbhh]

While it might be like a parent who while knowing what he might or will do instead, nevertheless at first says to their child "I'm going to punish you for that" -- but then later does a different action, after the child is sufficiently showing repentance or trust/faithfulness, which the parent knew could happen....

We should be ok with the possibility the verses all simply mean what they sound like they mean.

We read I think that God indeed doesn't merely change His mind on whims, nor does He fail to keep promises....

He is reliable. And He keeps His promises.

Which isn't at all the same as saying God cannot make any choices and new plans.

(Doctrines tend to oversimplify, and here's a place it's easy to do. )

God sees all that is happening. He makes plans. He comes through. He does the 'impossible.'

But, Christ said He is working:

John 5:17 - The Father and the Son

But Jesus answered them, To this very day My Father is at His work, and I too am working.

biblehub.com

So I think we should trust Him that He can change His mind as He chooses, but still keep His promises.... I think we should just trust the words, as they are.

I'm aware that since we know God has determined ahead of time all things that truly matter to accomplish, and will, many think that is the same as seeing not only all key things in the future, but instead also all trivialities too, like how fast a asteroid might move halfway across the Universe after it hits another by His perfect laws of physics He created to work on their own.

So, there is more than one view on that....

But, either way, one thing we can all rejoice about is that God foresaw from before the world our need for a Redeemer.

1 Peter 1:20 - A Call to Holiness

He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.

biblehub.com

 

[Diamond72]

By attributing a human quality to the LORD: he changed his mind like a man.

God does not change. He does respond. God called Jonah to go and preach against the wickedness of the city of Nineveh. They repented so God relented from destroying them. At least for 120 years.

He writes the book of our life at or before conception. Psalm 139 16. Then He watches over His word to perform what He said He would do.