“But You are the same, and Your years will have no end” (Ps. 102:27).
“I am the LORD, I do not change,” (Mal. 3:6). The manifold implications of these words extend beyond our realm of understanding and imagination. In a world that is constantly changing, indeed a world which seems to have change as its fundamental property, where people say one thing and do another, where we grow old and die, and where nations rise and fall, we desperately need a God who does not change. In most of us, the constant change even within ourselves, changes in our own emotions, ideas, and physical makeup—in combination with a changing world—create insecurities within us. What can we rely on if everything is always changing? What love can we rest in if even our own hearts deceive us, being that they are “unstable as water” (Gen. 49:9)? We shift like the shadows and find that we have no resting place in this world because everything is in motion. The answer to these questions is God, who does not change.
While we could analyze this extraordinary attribute of God from any number of perspectives, let us consider it in light of His love. God’s love is not only pure and holy, it is unchanging. He is not a being who says He loves us one minute and then withdraws His love the next. He is the same yesterday, today, and forever, and thus His love is always the same. Sadly, we often perceive God’s love in light of our own experiences. Our parents, spouses, friends, family have let us down. Their love has not been the solid rock we thought it would be. When we have sinned or not lived up to their expectations, their love has grown cold. Because this is often the case in our experience to one degree or another, we can be guilty of thinking that God’s love will also change, that we can’t trust Him to keep His word and to love us despite ourselves. But considering the reality of God’s loving character, we should not think this way. God cannot change! Let that truth sink into your mind. If He says that He loves you, then He will always love you. If He says that He will care for you, then He will care for you. If He has promised to bring you into glory, then you will be glorified. Nothing, as Paul writes in Romans 8, can separate you from the love of Christ because He does not change.
Meditate on Psalm 103:13; Exodus 34:6; 1 John 4:8; and Romans 8:31–39. Try not to compare God’s love with the love of human beings. Consider His love in light of its purity and unchangeableness. Memorize one of these verses and ask God to cause His love to fill you so you can love Him and others more fully.
