God Changes His Mind
The Holy Father told Jonah to inform Ninevah of God’s word: "Yet forty days and Ninevah shall perish." Yet forty days passed, forty-one, then more, and Ninevah did not perish. God changed his mind or else he had Jonah deliver a message that was not factually accurate. God changed his mind because Ninevah repented.
Often, what God does depends on what we do, how we respond to him. Surely it is obvious in I Samuel 8 that God does not want Israel to have any king but him. But the people repeatedly cried for a king, so God told Samuel to anoint Saul, the son of Kish, king. God appears to listen responsively to his people. God and Israel–his covenant community–participate in some kind of interactive relationship.
We’ll look into this much more fully on down the road, but for now consider the logic of the previous paragraph. If God changes his mind, then in some very real sense, God changes. If at times God acts in response to his people, then what God does, depends to a degree, on what they do. If we don’t read into the Bible our traditional–Greek philosophy influenced–belief that God is immutable, the text tells us over and again that the living God can and does change. No fickleness, but change; change, but always trustworthy.
If there are times when God’s actions depend on whether we obey or reject, then God sometimes depends on us, is dependent on us. Here is no philosophical "unmoved mover. Rather, like with a good parent, God’s love expresses itself according to the continually changing need. Much depends on us, yet God remains the Creator and we the creature; God the master, we the servant.
If God has a plan, it clearly is subject to revision. If it had been part of his plan that Adam and Eve would yield to the serpent’s temptation, he would not have punished them because it would have been part of his plan. In the days of Noah, things were not working out the way God wanted them to go, so he initiated a new plan for Noah. Later, God planned for a covenant people, governed by God, to bring blessing to the whole earth. But the people wanted to be governed by a king, so God revised his plan and named Saul their king. Saul didn’t work out; revision again became necessary. David was God’s choice. Then Solomon was God’s choice to succeed David. Solomon didn’t work out. Revision time again.
Repeatedly God’s covenant people undermined, subverted, and sabotaged God’s plan, so God revised his original covenant and promised a new and different kind of covenant, one accomplished through Jesus Christ. God keeps his eye on things, is amazingly adaptable, and is prepared at any time to make any necessary revisions to accomplish his purpose. The way is not a straight line, cannot be foreseen in its entirety, but God’s purpose will be realized, accomplished, completed.
If Jesus had such a thing as an agenda for any particular day, that plan often was revised as he saw the crowds and had compassion on them. Once he crossed the lake, intending a time of needed retreat. However, the throng quickly marched to the other side and swarmed him when he came ashore, so he spent the day teaching them. Often it was individual need that turned Jesus from his planned activity to act compassionately. Once again, in an attempt at retreat from the crowds, he left the Jewish world for the Canaanite, Syro-Phoenician region where he was accosted by a foreign woman who persistently begged for his time, attention, love, and healing power. Jesus seemed reluctant to change his plans, but her unrelenting appeal of faith brought about a revised course of action–and perhaps even a revision of attitude (attitude adjustment?) on Jesus’ part.
God’s way can be barricaded, detours set up, but whatever the obstacle, God cannot be blocked. He has infinite ways of going around, under over, or sometimes even right through the obstructions. God cannot be defeated; he cannot fail; he will prevail. He can be trusted, depended on. Whatever adjustments must be made, God can be counted on to succeed in accomplishing his purpose.
3 comments:
Someone just passed this link along to me. When did you start blogging?
I remember being on a summer mission trip in Australia, and getting the opportunity to preach. I decided to try and teach this lesson, and was accused of heresy.
I later realized that I was like a little kid with a hose from a fire engine...I did not have the strength nor understanding to be useful with it in my hands. (I think you were even willing to email me a synopsis in order to try and help).
It is infinitely harder to live in flux then to have a defined set of rules that we must simply follow without much thought.
I agree with much, but am puzzling over the statement, God would not have punished the people if their sins had not been a part of his plan. My mother is schizophrenic, and I swore I would never have kids because of what I could pass on. My first was an accident, but the second was planned. I knew he could inherit this, and I planned to have him, even though I hoped he would not. I knew that my husband and I both had tempers and were stubborn. I assumed this would be part of my son or daughter. I had then knowing they would sin. I sometimes even put them in situations in which I know they will most likely mess up because I know I can teach them something while I am around to observe. So in a way, I planned to have sinners who would mess up, and sometimes I sort of set up to sin, so I can help them see the consequences (punish) while they are young. If I could set up a world where they would not suffer, I would not do so even though I hate the thought of them suffering. I think suffering refines and teaches in a way other things cannot. If I could set up a world where they never sinned, I don't know. We do learn from our mistakes. Of coarse, I certainly hope they limit their amount of sinning:) Is God so different with his children? Without sin, would there have been suffering in this world? He allowed Satan to come to this earth out of other options. He knew that they angels had already rebelled. Did he really not think that man would? Is this knowledge not in someway a plan? Yet he would be remiss if he did not punish sin. Is using evil, to create growth the same as creating evil? I don't think so. God uses evil and pain to bring good into our lives if we let him. Anyway, I probably should have taken those logic coarses, and I have diverted from the main path of the blog. But my simple logic lead me here out of the one comment. Always interested to hear where I am wrong.
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