I was recently asked, at an open mic, townhall “Ask anything” style conversation, what to do with the passages in which God, “changes His mind.” The question has always bugged me. What bugged me a little more is that I hadn’t really processed the question personally, and didn’t have a solid response. I muddled through some, but fear I dodged the question more than responded to it.
It’s been on my mind the last few days.
As I’ve considered, I think the premise of the question is the problem. Has God ever, “changed His mind?” This makes God sound arbitrary; we know He’s not. God responds to situations a) in full agreement with His character and b) in full knowledge of the eternal outworkings of every action. So God will always respond to a situation in the most loving, just, faithful, gracious, compassionate way possible, as defined by His character and the eternal consequences to His action. (This brings a different question to mind – not that of our free will, but of God’s? He’s constrained by His character, but that can’t be reduced to autonomy, can it?)
Regardless, I think the above is true. In that case, a change of circumstances will necessarily result in a change of posture or position for God. “But doesn’t the nature of His eternal response means that He would never change an action, always choosing the action that prompts the right response?” No, because God’s actions affect human actions, and God’s actions in a situation prompt human reactions that God’s actions then interact with.
Jonah
The story of Jonah is a perfect case in point. God sends Jonah to proclaim the destruction of Nineveh because of their sinfulness. Was God going to destroy Nineveh because of their sinfulness? Absolutely. That was the right response according to His character. But Jonah’s preaching prompted repentance, which then in turn prompted God’s compassionate response (Jonah 3:10). Did God change His mind? No – he acted in line with His character in both situations. Was God wrong when he said, “Nineveh will be destroyed.”? No, because He intended to destroy the city in it’s current state, but He also knew that His just intention to destroy the city would prompt repentance and that His compassionate character would then relent from His initial intention. And we can posit that Nineveh’s repentance only came about because of the preaching that Nineveh would be destroyed, and that God’s glory was maximized by a repentant Nineveh rather than a destroyed Nineveh. Did God change His mind? No, His intention was the same in every circumstance – His glory. He simply responded differently to the different situations.
The fact is that every stated intention carries plenty of unstated caveats. “I’m going to go to the store tonight.” Well, that might be true, unless my car breaks down, or my house catches on fire, or I get called into a work emergency, or my daughter breaks her arm – any number of unknowns. The difference is that the unknowns are known to God, and we reactively assume that He takes all those unknowns into consideration. And He does. But we can’t undercount His knowledge that His intervention affects human action as well, and His preeminent foreknowledge accounts for those reactions as well.
Exodus 32
Exodus 32 is perhaps the most stated example of God changing His mind, because it’s proceeded by Moses pleading with God to remember His character. “Oh Lord, why does your wrath burn hot against your people?” (Exodus 32:11). It comes across like a cool-headed kid (Moses) talking down their impetuous parent (God). But I think it’s just as easy to see it as God rightly responding to the apostasy of Israel (this is the golden calf incident) but using it as a teaching moment for Moses. If you don’t look at God at hot-tempered or off-the-cuff, but rather as a wise and patient Father who is seeking to teach His servant Moses a lesson, the actions come across entirely different. God proclaims judgement against Israel and then steps back, knowing that His accusations will cause Moses to respond in compassion.
It should then absolutely not be lost on the reader that Moses goes down from the mountain, “and as soon as he came near the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, Moses’ anger burned hot” (Exodus 32:19), and he ordered the killing of many Israelites. As soon as Moses sees what God sees, he flies off the cuff and responds with rage. It’s a story that teaches Moses may know God’s character (he pled with God to respond in line with it), but he can’t act it out. The whole narrative arch magnifies God’s mercy and compassion, rather than minimizing or caveating it (which is what the simplistic, ‘God changed His mind’ position says happens).
The fact is that God always acts in line with His character. If He states something different than what He does, it’s in line with His character.