SOME THINGS NEVER CHANGE

Malachi 3:6 “I am the LORD, and I do not change.”

There are many things that are changing rapidly all around us. We are living in a constantly changing world – and as the years go by the rate at which the changes occur are increasing more and more. Practically every phase of life changes. Travel has changed – from horse and buggy in my great-grandparents time to auto and air today. We hardly even take notice when a space shuttle sends someone to space any more. Political methods have changed – from absolute monarchs to democracies. The entire medical field has changed – things that were once impossible are now routine, and what used to take weeks or months to heal is now outpatient. Times have definitely changed.

In our scripture, God was referring to his own qualities of patience, long-suffering and mercy when he said, “I am the Lord, I change not…” The word Lord here is the Hebrew word Jehovah. His name Jehovah means that he is the eternal, self-existent, self-sufficient God who created and sustains it all. He never had a beginning and will never have an ending. God has always been, always is and will always be. God is more awesome than I’ll ever understand and infinitely more complex than I can ever hope to explore. He transcends all time, all space, all knowledge, and every other dimension you can come up with.

God existed before the heavens and earth were made, and he will exist long after they have been destroyed. God causes the universe to change, but in contrast to this change he is the same. James said that our God is the “Father of lights, with whom is no variation, neither shadow of turning.” The writer of Hebrews said that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today and forever.”

This is great for you and me. It means that God will never change the way that he feels about us. God loves man and created him to have a relationship with him. He loved the first man Adam in the garden before he sinned, and he loved that man after sin entered the picture. We ought to be thankful today that God doesn’t change the way he feels about us. He loves you just as much today as he has ever loved you and no matter what you do you won’t change that. You can’t make God love you any more – and you can’t make God love you any less. Even if you feel that you have wrecked your lives with sin and shame, you’ve thrown away your opportunities, you’ve walked on the grace and mercy of God, you turned your back on him, yet he stands there with open arms waiting to receive you to himself. He loves us.

I am thankful that even today when I mess up, when my pride gets in the way, when my impatience gets in the way, when I don’t love people like I ought to, when I don’t take my life as serious as I ought to, when I neglect his word and prayer that through it all God loves me.

How can God love me through all of that? How can God love you through all of that? How can God continue to love man when man treats God with such contempt? He can love us this way because he does not change – his mercy endures forever.