God is unchanging. This is considered one of God’s incommunicable attributes. Incommunicable means the attributes of God that we humans cannot take on or exhibit ourselves. God’s communicable attributes, on the other hand, such as knowledge or goodness, are ones we also have as creatures made in His image.

Yet our capacity to grow in God’s communicable attributes is as best a reflection. Why? Because God is God and we are not. There is a vast ocean of distinction between us as creatures and God as Creator. Keeping this distinction in mind will help us understand what it means for God to be unchanging in His being.

As creatures, we’re always in a state of becoming something we weren’t before:

  • We get older and our bodies change
  • We gain weight or lose weight
  • We get stronger and weaker
  • We learn things and forget things
  • We can take on new beliefs and discard old ones
  • Our wills and preferences change
  • We keep promises or break them
  • We’re at one place at one moment and another in the next

The list goes on and on. Change is constant for us creatures! But the same is not true about God. If God changed, it would mean He wasn’t already in fulness of what He is. His steadfast love wouldn’t be perfect, His mercy and grace would not be in full.

Perhaps this is why the Bible refers to God as our rock. Imagine throwing a large and heaving rock at something. Chances are, something will break—but the rock will remain the same. Now imagine throwing something at the large and heavy rock. Chances still are that the thing will break, but the rock will remain the same. In a similar fashion, God is our rock. Nothing within Him or about Him can change.

And so, we sing with Moses, “The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and without iniquity, just and upright is he” (Deut. 32:4, ESV)

We pray with Hannah, “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God” (1 Sam. 2:2)

We sing with David, “For you are my rock and my fortress; and for your name’s sake you lead me and guide me.” (Ps. 31:3) Rest on the Rock, the unchanging God of your salvation.

 

Questions for reflection and discussion:

  • What is the Creator-creature distinction and how does this help us understand God’s being?
  • How is this good news for you?
  • Read Deut. 32:4; 1 Sam. 2:2; and Ps. 31:3 again. Can you relate with Moses, Hannah, or David in the way in which they refer to God as their Rock?

 

Church Reading Plan: Isaiah 57; Matthew 5