God Is Immutable

BY She Reads Truth

God is unchanging in His being. His character and will are constant.

As humans, we speak the language of change. We are always seeking the next, the better, the unknown. Even if we prefer to hold change at an arm’s length, it is inevitable. The seasons shift, the stars fall, our numbered hairs fall out, and our hearts undergo the only constant we know—change.

The book of Ecclesiastes contains this famous refrain, charged with the impatience, discomfort, and hopefulness of our ever-changing lives:

There is an occasion for everything,
and a time for every activity under heaven:
a time to give birth and a time to die;
a time to plant and a time to uproot (3:1–2).

We live our lives seemingly anchored to little more than change itself. And yet Scripture beckons us to drop our anchor and hold fast to the One who never changes.

Our God is unchangeable because He is perfect. Nothing can be added or taken away from Him. Everything He does is consistent with who He is. God’s promises are the same, and His ability to keep them will never waver. In Malachi 3, God tells His people: “Because I, the LORD, have not changed, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed” (v.6). In short, God’s immutability means we can count on Him, no matter what.

Job, whose life changed in dramatic and painful ways, knew God to be always true to His character. “He is unchangeable, who can oppose him?” he asked (Job 23:13). Job staked his hope—his life—on his belief that God will always be who He declares Himself to be and do what He says He will do.

Job’s hope is our hope.

Complete, unchangeable, perfect—this is our God. As the ancient doxology “Gloria Patri” declares:

Glory to the Father and to the Son
and to the Holy Spirit;
as it was in the beginning is now
and will be forever. Amen.

Edited language of first paragraph on 2/5. Thanks for keeping us on our toes, Shes!