“For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” – Malachi 3:6
The winds of change are blowing across the land. Consider the painful changes forced upon us by the pandemic. In the midst of the pandemic, social unrest, rioting, looting, burning of businesses in the name of racial equality and justice. Distrust of the police accompanied by calls for defunding and dismantling big-city police departments. Anarchists taking over multiple city blocks where city authorities are not allowed entry. Unemployment at historic highs and salary cuts for those who are fortunate enough to remain employed. Yes, the winds of change are blowing and the times they are a-changin.
In the midst of all the change, we have a God, a Rock, that does not change. The substance of God has not changed and will never change. He is the immortal, invisible, indivisible, unduplicable, God. More than that, we have a God who does not change his mind toward us. In the Malachi text, God reminds “I am the Lord, I change not.” But then he says “therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.” The sons of Jacob were the tribes of Israel. Later in the chapter, Malachi describes how the Israelites have fallen away from God. They have changed their minds about God, but God has not changed his mind toward them. God still loves Israel, and he calls them to come back to him, to repent, and to follow his will that he might bless them.
No matter how the world may change around us, God will not change his will toward us. He has warned us that this world is passing away (1 John 2:17). A new heaven and a new earth are coming (Rev 22:1). We prepare to let go of the one and grab hold of the other. God’s will toward us remains constant. He has loved us in Christ through his redeeming death on the cross. He loves us today by giving us our daily bread, together with countless other blessings. We may turn from God and sin against him, but he always stands with arms wide open, beckoning us to come back, offering forgiveness for all our sins.
Because God does not change, neither can his Word ever change. What God has written is as if it is carved in stone. “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Matt 24:35). The word spoken of is the Bible, the written Word of God. The words of the world forever change. The opinions change, the rules change, the philosophies change, the “truths” change. What a comfort it is to hold in our hands the changeless Word of the changeless God.
When your mind is spinning from the velocity of the changing world, remember this verse from Malachi, take into your hands His changeless Word, and calm your heart and spirit with the never-changing message of Christ.
–Pastor Anderson