As a new month begins, I find myself reflecting on the unchanging nature of God and what it means for us. A question keeps coming back to me: “What if God changed?” If He did, the consequences would be far-reaching.

Consider God’s declaration in Malachi 3:6: “I am the LORD, and I do not change. That is why you descendants of Jacob are not already destroyed.” (NLT) Malachi was the last of the Old Testament prophets, and the book was written around 450–430 BC. By the time of Malachi, the excitement of rebuilding the destroyed temple, completed in 515 BC, had faded, and the people seem to have become disillusioned.”. So much had changed while they were in exile, and they began to wonder about the love and mercy of God.

Turning away from God, or questioning His nature, leads people to act in ways that expose them to His justice. If we back up to verse 5, we read: “So I will come near to you for judgment. I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me,” says the LORD Almighty (NIV). This gives us more insight into verse 6. It speaks not just of the character of God but of His covenant, which does not change. God declares that the people are not destroyed because He does not change. His judgement is real, but so is His covenant faithfulness.

So back to my question: “What if God changed?” As I write this, I think about my own life. I am not the same person I was five, ten or twenty years ago. So much has changed about me, but one thing has remained constant: the presence of God. While much has changed in the way I engage with the world around me, the core of my living still rests firmly on His word. If God changed, I would have no anchor for my soul, and my life would have little or no meaning.

Society has changed and evolved over the centuries too. Science and technology have affected our way of life in both positive and negative ways, but technological advancement is not the problem; human nature is. We have inherited the same sinful nature that led people in Malachi’s day to do the things God said He would judge in verse 5. Those things may even seem to pale beside some of the evils we see today. Just turn on the news and you are likely to hear of people being killed or atrocities being carried out somewhere in the world. The heart of the problem has not changed, and neither has God.

The good news is that when God declared, “I am the LORD, and I do not change,” the context was His covenant with His people. That covenant did not begin with Malachi. In Genesis 3:15, God judged the serpent for deceiving man into disobeying Him, and within that judgement was a promise: one born of a woman would ultimately win victory over the serpent. God carried that promise forward through Abraham and Jacob (Genesis 28:13–15), and Malachi’s hearers were the descendants of Jacob. The promise was fulfilled through the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

There is a deeper layer to my question: “What if God changed like humans do?” There are times when my perspective has changed because of new knowledge. For instance, there have been people I liked from a distance, but when I got close to them I noticed things that changed how I felt about them. That led me to another thought: God knows us intimately, with all our faults and weaknesses and yet, He loves us and desires to draw us close to Him. If He changed as we do, I would not be here to write this piece. I am grateful that His covenant, love and compassion toward me has not changed. In Lamentations 3:22 we read, “Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail.” (NIV)

If you think you are far from God, or that your sins are too great for Him to forgive, let me encourage you today: we have a God whose covenant of mercy has not changed. In the very next verse of Malachi, He says, “Return to me, and I will return to you” (Malachi 3:7, NLT). All that is required is that you seek His mercy and repent of your sins. 1 John 1:9 assures us, “But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness.” (NLT)

For those of us who already know Him but are beginning to wonder whether God remembers us, perhaps you have prayed for something for a long time and are still waiting, or things are not working out as you hoped. Let me encourage you: God sees you and He has not forgotten you. Here is another promise rooted in His unchanging nature: “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5, NIV). A few verses later we read that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Hebrews 13:8, NIV). 

He is with you in that situation; He has never left. Keep trusting, keep believing, and be sure of this: the God who does not change is with you.