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Does God Change His Mind?
by James Pyles
I'm writing this article in response to a conversation I had with a couple during a Shabbat teaching. They proposed something that had never occurred to me before, or at least something I hadn't considered in a long time. They suggested that it was possible to change God's mind about something. Frankly, this completely took me by surprise. My understanding of God is that, being completely sovereign, He doesn't make decisions that need to be changed. How could anyone convince God that He needs to make a different decision than the one He has already made?
At first, I determined to dismiss the suggestion that God could change His mind and has ever changed His mind. Then I thought that, if I hadn't specifically researched the matter and couldn't point to a Biblical source to support my beliefs, then what was I defending? I'm also a fledgling student of Mussar and as such, I must cultivate the truth, whether I find it personally comfortable or not.
Before delving into the Biblical "nuts and bolts" of the matter, I want to share why I so confidently hold the position that God doesn't change His mind. As Paul has said, "let us reason together". Consider this: why do people change their minds? Make it more personal. Why do you change your mind? What happens when a person makes a decision and then changes that decision?
My Initial Position
I won't go into a huge amount of detail, but let me answer my question by presenting a simple example. Let's say I want to buy a new television. The old one is on its last legs and there are some terrific sales to be had out there. I hop online, do a few Google searches and make a decision based on the qualities I want out of a new TV, cost relative to my budget, and so on. Now my mind has been made up. Isn't this a lock? Once I've decided what I want, why would I change my mind?
New information. I made my original decision based on my requirements for a television set, such as size of the picture, quality, purpose of the TV set, how many people will be watching it at any one time, how much money I have to spend, and the cost of the various sets at the stores in my community. Now let's say that I discover that my budget for purchasing a TV set has changed. Maybe I remembered how much money I have in the bank for the purchase incorrectly. If I have more money, I can now consider more expensive sets. If I have less money, I'll need to weed out contenders that cost too much.
I could also consult a friend whose opinion about TV sets I consider quite good and get new information. This could lead me to make different conclusions about which TVs would best suit my requirements. Of course, I'd have to believe that my friend knows what he or she is talking about. Say they just made a similar purchase and are really happy with how their new set performs. They also could have bought the same TV I'm considering and found out it's a total lemon. Regardless, assuming I value their opinion, what they have to say, if it differs from my perspective, is likely to result in my changing my mind about what I've decided. New information that I consider valuable then modifies my original decision and results in my taking a different action than I would have if that information hadn't come my way.
I'm not an expert on TV sets or on a lot of other topics. I can confidently say that I don't know literally everything there is to know, even about one subject in or out of my experience. After all, I'm only human. Now, what about God?
Even without quoting "chapter and verse", my understanding about the nature of God is that He knows everything about everything. How could He have created a universe and everything in it if He didn't have a complete and intimate understanding of, well...everything? In that sense, how do you give new information to God, who already possesses all the information there is in existence? If God already knows everything and cannot be given information He doesn't already have in His possession, on what basis would He ever change His mind?
The classic Biblical example that God doesn't change His mind is this:
"God is not a man that He should be deceitful, nor a son of man that He should relent. Would He say and not do, or speak and not confirm"?
--Numbers 23:19
This is part of God's conversation with the evil Prophet Balaam, explaining that God was not going to change His mind about not letting Balaam curse the Children of Israel, regardless of how many times Balak, King of Moab, ordered Balaam to make curses. In this instance, once God has made His pronouncement, both Balak and Balaam seem very foolish in trying to strive against God's sovereign judgment. So why isn't this the final word?
The Bible Shows God Changing His Mind
However logical my argument may sound, human logic must give way to the Word of God. That is, regardless of what makes sense to me, if my beliefs contradict what's written in the Bible, then I must be in the wrong, and not God. Let's take a look at a noteworthy example.
The First Challenge: King Hezekiah
In those days Hezekiah became ill and was at the point of death. The prophet Isaiah, son of Amoz went to him and said, "This is what the LORD says: Put your house in order, because you are going to die; you will not recover." Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Before Isaiah had left the middle court, the word of the LORD came to him: "Go back and tell Hezekiah, the leader of my people, 'This is what the LORD, the God of your father David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears; I will heal you. On the third day from now you will go up to the temple of the LORD. I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my sake and for the sake of my servant David.' "Then Isaiah said, "Prepare a poultice of figs." They did so and applied it to the boil, and he recovered.
--2 Kings 20: 1-7 (NIV)
Did God change His mind? Apparently so. As a result of Hezekiah's prayers, God's decision that Hezekiah should die was postponed 15 years. But does this constitute an actual change of mind? Hear me out.
In verse 1, the Prophet Isaiah tells Hezekiah to tell his household that he is to die, apparently as a result of the illness that Hezekiah was currently suffering. However, Isaiah (and presumably God) doesn't say exactly when Hezekiah was to die. Yes, in this context, it seems reasonable to assume that his death was to happen soon, but we don't know exactly when this was to occur. In that sense, we could say that God didn't really change his mind that Hezekiah was to die since he died anyway...fifteen years later (although the Bible doesn't actually record how long Hezekiah lives after this encounter).
The obvious flaw in my argument is verse 6, "I will add fifteen years to your life. And I will deliver you and this city from the hand of the king of Assyria". It seems clear that God intended for Hezekiah to die at some specific point but, as a result of prayer, God states that Hezekiah will die fifteen years later than God had previously planned.
But how can we reconcile Numbers 23 with 2 Kings 20? In the former, God says He's not a man that He should relent, but in the latter, He relents. Why does He seemingly relent relative to Hezekiah but not for Balaam? In the case of Balaam, he is attempting to do an evil thing by cursing the Children of Israel. Also, in Genesis 12:3, God tells Abraham (and by inference the Jewish people), "I will bless those who bless you, and him who curses you, I will curse; and all the families of the earth will bless themselves by you". That doesn't exactly make the Jewish people "curse-proof", but it does indicate that anyone who successfully curses the Children of Israel will be cursed by God. Not an enviable situation, to be sure.
In Hezekiah's case, he prays to God, "Remember, O LORD, how I have walked before you faithfully and with wholehearted devotion and have done what is good in your eyes." And Hezekiah wept bitterly". Hezekiah doesn't repent as such, but he does "remind" God (as if God has a faulty memory) of how Hezekiah has walked before Him faithfully and with wholehearted devotion. Then Hezekiah weeps bitter tears. A human being capable of feeling compassion would probably melt when witnessing the King's misery and, if it were in his or her power, would grant Hezekiah "more time". Who wouldn't feel compassion? Apparently God did. Does that mean God specifically changes His mind as a result of prayer but not because an evil person is persistent in attempting evil?
A man will change his mind out of compassion or if presented with a convincing argument. But God isn't a man. Didn't God know all of these events would occur, including Hezekiah's prayer and tears, before He even created the universe? Consider the following:
"Before I formed you in the belly I knew you, and before you left the womb I sanctified you; I established you as a prophet unto the nations".
--Jeremiah 1:5"For the word is not yet on my tongue, behold, God, You knew it all".
--Psalm 139:4"In the Messiah He chose us in love before the creation of the universe to be holy and without defect in His presence".
--Ephesians 1:4
These verses speak of God knowing Jeremiah before God formed him in his mother's womb, knowing what David was going to say before he said it, and choosing us in love before the creation of the universe. The first two verses seem to state that God had knowledge of people and events at some point before they happened, but Ephesians states that God made decisions about His chosen ones "...before the creation of the universe..." Before the creation of the universe? Before time and space, let alone people existed? How then can He get new information if He knew everything from before creation? Ponder this as we move on to another example.
The Second Challenge: Moses After the Golden Calf
"Moses pleaded before Hashem, his God, and he said, 'Why, Hashem, should your anger flare up against Your people, whom You have taken out of the land of Egypt, with great power and a strong hand? Why should Egypt say the following: With evil intent did He take them out, to kill them in the mountains and to annihilate them from the face of the earth? Relent from Your flaring anger and reconsider regarding the evil against Your people. Remember for the sake of Abraham, Issac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Yourself, and You told them, I shall increase your offspring like the stars of heaven, and the entire land of which I spoke, I shall give to your offspring and It shall be their heritage forever'. Hashem reconsidered regarding the evil that He declared He would do to His people".
--Exodus 32:11-14 (Tanakh, Stone Edition)
As you recall, while Moses was on Mount Sinai with God for forty days and nights, the Children of Israel's faith waned and they "commissioned" Aaron, the brother of Moses, to make a Golden Calf, which they then worshiped. In Exodus 32:10, God declared, "And now, desist from Me. Let My anger flare up against them and I shall annihilate them; and I shall make you a great nation." God is declaring his intent to destroy the Children of Israel for their faithlessness and idol worship and make Moses into a great nation, fulfilling the covenant promises to Abraham, Issac, and Jacob. So how did Moses change God's mind?
Seemingly, Moses presented God with a logical argument that His reputation would be tarnished in Egypt if it was discovered that God rescued the Jewish people from slavery in Egypt only to destroy them on the mountain. It would be as if God wasn't powerful enough to keep His promises to them. Moses also "reminded" God again (God must have a terrible memory) of the promises He made to the patriarchs. In the face of Moses' devastating logic and keen memory of scripture, God relents.
Wait a minute. Does God relent? Well, we've established that He doesn't relent in the face of an evil doer who, once told that God won't allow him to curse the Children of Israel, continues to try and curse them, as if persistence will get God to change His decision. We do see some indication that, in response to fervent and sincere prayer that remind God of his promises and our actions, God will relent and change His mind. Is that what's happening here? Remember, according to the previously cited verses in Jeremiah, Psalms, and Ephesians, God knows about everything before it happens, and knew it all before the creation of the universe. Didn't He know these prayers and petitions would occur? Why does He say one thing, wait for the human response to His decision, and then make a different decision?
What to Consider
Hold on now. Did I just hit upon something? Let's follow that chain of events again:
- God declares an event is to occur
- A human being prays and petitions to God to relent
- God declares that He has relented
Let's look at this from each of our two examples. Here's the first:
- God instructs Isaiah to tell Hezekiah that he will die, apparently of the illness of which he currently suffers.
- Hezekiah, in his fear and misery, prays to God, appeals to Him, cites his walk with God, and sheds bitter tears.
- God tells Isaiah to tell the King that He is extending Hezekiah's life 15 years.
Now here's the second example:
- God tells Moses to get out of His way and that He intends on wiping out the Children of Israel and starting over with Moses.
- Moses pleads with God not to do this, citing how the Egyptians will perceive this event and citing God's promises to the patriarchs that are to be realized through the twelve tribes.
- God tells Moses He has relented and will not destroy the Children of Israel.
Who has changed, though...God, or the people praying? Let's take a closer look. In response to God's statements, both Hezekiah and Moses have choices to make. In the face of certain death, Hezekiah can do any number of things, including pleading to God for his life. He can also "curse God and die", as Job's wife suggests he do in Job 2:9. He can summon all the doctors and other experts at his command to find a cure for his illness, he can order that Isaiah be killed for bearing such a lousy prophesy (and that's not unheard of), and so on. Moses too has decisions to make. Given how frustrated Moses becomes sometimes in response to the complaints of the Children of Israel, he could have sided with God and basically told God to "push the button" and take out all those sinners. He also could have said, "I give up...kill me, too" as he later does say in Numbers 11:15.
What did both Hezekiah and Moses learn from these specific encounters with God? On the surface, it would seem that Hezekiah learned that, in the face of death, only God can be counted on to save. He learned that God has mercy and that His mercy can override His justice. Moses gained a greater sense of responsibility for the Children of Israel. Previously, Moses was God's instrument in rescuing the Children of Israel from the hand of Pharaoh, King of Egypt and, as God's prophet, redeemed the Jewish nation from harsh slavery and brought them into service to God. Now, Moses gains an even greater paternal position in relation to the Children of Israel, pleading for mercy for a people who don't deserve it, even in the face of God.
In both cases, each man learns something more about his relationship with God and his relationship with his fellows. Each man becomes more than he had been if he had not had the encounter with God and if he had not prayed, pleaded, and begged God for mercy. Did God change His mind in response to prayer, or did God create a situation that allowed each man to see what is truly possible if you rely on God and connect with God during harsh trials?
Why do we pray? Doesn't God know what we're going to pray for before we pray for it? Certainly Psalm 139 says so. Yet Paul says to pray regularly or persistently in 1 Thessalonians 5:17. Also consider:
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!"
--Matthew 7:7-11"And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints".
--Ephesians 6:18
Conclusion to a Short Study on Prayer
How many more examples are there of God "changing His mind" in the Bible? Quite a few, actually. Do any of them offer significantly different examples than what have been quoted here? Probably not. Does God change His mind in response to prayer? I don't believe so, but it's sometimes comforting to believe our prayers do change God's mind.
As human beings and God's creations, as much as we seek to know God, it is impossible for us to fully comprehend the majesty and infinite nature of God, because, as humans, we are finite and limited. How can we completely and totally understand a God that is so immense? Having said that, God provided us with revelations both in the written word and in creation so that we could know Him, at least to the extent of our abilities. He also provided "His only begotten Son" so that we may know the Father through the Son.
Yet we must admit that the vast, vast majority of who God is constitutes a mystery for us. People don't like mysteries (just look at all the Mystery novels that have been published, complete with the clever detective solving the puzzle by working out the clues). We want to solve them. How can we "solve" God? On God's own terms, we can't. We lack the capacity. So what do we do? We do what people have been doing all throughout history; we anthropomorphize God. That is, we pretend that God has qualities like us. Then we can relate to Him better.
This isn't to say that God doesn't have qualities we don't understand. God loves, God gets angry, God desires that His children do good things. But that doesn't explain everything God says and does, so we tend to "fill in the blanks" by giving God human qualities. We believe we can change His mind the way we can change a person's mind, because it makes it easier for us to have a heartfelt conversation with God. The Bible talks about God's face, His right arm, His back, and so on, as if God has a body like a person's body; just bigger and more powerful. It's perfectly understandable why we do this. We're trying to make up for our inability to fully conceive of God on God's terms. However, as understandable as this is, it can lead to inaccurate conclusions about God's nature.
God loves us and has always loved us, even before we existed. It's questionable if God even experiences a "before", "during", and "after" like we do. Perhaps God doesn't foresee the future to tell what we're going to do, but rather, He sees all of creation at every point in time from beginning to end as an eternal "now". That might explain why He would choose us from before the creation of the universe. For God, we have always existed and we will always exist, regardless of whether we've been born yet or have been in the grave for a thousand years. God's love and compassion for us is timeless and can never change. Only people change.
I don't believe God changes His mind but I believe we do. I believe that God provides us with a series of trials and tests to help hone us and to help grow us in our faith and in our relationship with Him. How much would we desire God if He didn't teach us to depend on Him? How compassionate would we feel about our fellow, especially our really annoying fellow, if God didn't teach us how to feel compassion? These are lessons that God taught Hezekiah and Moses in the examples presented in this article. These are lessons that God has taught countless men and women across the expanse of time, including you and me. We don't change God's mind. If we could, then He wouldn't be a totally sovereign God, reigning over all of time and space. God changes our minds.
Does that mean we don't have free will? Of course not. It just means that God knew what we were going to do with our free will a thousand years before we were born. God provides us with challenges to use our free will to make right decisions, just like Hezekiah and Moses. Of course, there are people who never make those right decisions, including the decision for salvation. However, God has provided and will provide each and every one of us with situations where we have the opportunity to encounter Him and "choose life". I'm thankful that God loves us all so much that He is persistent and He teaches us to be persistent in prayer and in seeking Him out. That's why we pray...not to change God, but to let God change us.
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