It’s time for another Attributes of God recap. We have been making our way through Jen Wilkin’s book “None Like Him” and diving in week by week to the some of the main (incommunicable) attributes of God. If you missed the series introduction post, I announced the Attributes of God series there and explained a little bit about WHY we should care to know more about God and his nature.
So far we’ve covered the following attributes:
This week, we are learning about God’s immutable nature. What the heck does that mean you ask?
It means that God never changes, but always remains the same. Some of you may think that sounds really boring and others may think that sounds glorious, but we are going to dive in to why God’s unchangeable nature is a good thing for ALL of us!
Okay let’s get into it! I’m excited because this one resonated with me so m much!
Week Seven: God is Immutable
The God that is always the same.
Scripture tells us that God doesn’t change. It tells us there is no variation and no change because He remains the same today as He was yesterday and will continue to be tomorrow.
Change can be exciting and often sanctifying for us, but when it comes to relationships, there is great comfort in knowing that God is unchanging.
I cling to this attribute more desperately at times when I want to question if He loves me when I mess up or is He faithful when it comes to my future. The answer is “OF COURSE” because His attributes don’t waver like mine do. His love for me always remains the same and His faithfulness never wavers.
When we think about what relationship we want to put all of our hope into, let it be GOD! He is the unchanging one, a reliable source of comfort, a promise keeper, a solid foundation that our faith can build on that will not crumble beneath us. When everything and everyone around us is bound to change at any given time, there is great comfort in the fact that God does not vary.
We are the ones that are always changing
While God remains the same forever and always, we as humans are changing on the regular.
We are physically changing, emotionally changing, the way we think changes, what we wear changes…in short, we do not remain the same. It can be easy to operate under the illusion that change isn’t happening, but when we really evaluate life around us – we see change happening consistently around us.
How often though, do we ask the ever-changing world around us to remain the same?
But we have a Hope that is unchanging
People are going to change and circumstances are going to change. It’s unavoidable and the sooner we embrace this reality that change is inevitable, the less likely we are to put demands on the world around us to remain the same. This actually creates a lot of freedom if we can truly keep this perspective.
We are freed up to allow people and circumstances to change because we can anchor ourself to a steady God. God is the only place we can put our hope because He always remains the same.
You can change
THIS IS THE PART that I can relate to so so much. I am one of those people that LOVES to throw a pity party. I’m naturally a pretty pessimissic person (ironic, given that my name is BRIGHTON). I’m honestly not sure if it’s my perfect-or-nothing nature or lack of confidence in myself at times, but I can really get in a big woah-is-me pity party. Instead of rejoicing about all the growth I’ve seen God do in me over the months/years, I tend to focus on the parts of my life where I’m still falling short of where my heart still needs LOTS of pruning. And I think – ugh I’ll always be this way.
Can you relate?
Often we can think that we are unchangeable. Maybe there is a sin pattern we continue to fall into or it just feels too hard to change. So we convince ourselves we can’t, but as we have learned – we are changeable. This should be an encouragement to us!
God can change us through the work of His Spirit to increasingly resemble His image. When it seems like we will always be the same, put your hope in Him. His word says He can take a heart of stone and turn it into flesh. With Him, all things ARE possible.
What person or circumstance do you cling to for stability?
What areas of your life do you believe are too difficult to change?
Verses for Meditation
There is a section at the end of each chapter which includes verses for mediation I am going to include below that I hope you find helpful.
- Psalm 18:31
- Malachi 3:6
- Matthew 7:24-27
- 1 Corinthians 13:4-8
- Hebrews 13:8
- James 1:17
Tech Background To Reflect Throughout The Week
Since we’re doing this study week by week, I thought it would be fun to add in a little extra value for those of you joining me in this study. I wanted to make these backgrounds for you to put on your phone so that you could think about, pray, and meditate on God’s immutable nature throughout the week.
Here are 3 options. Click on the text hyperlink below this image to download the full resolution.
