When God Repents (When God Changes His Mind)

Exodus 32:14 "And the LORD repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people." ~KJV
Exodus 32:14 "And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people." ~ESV
Exodus 32:14 "So the LORD changed His mind about the harm which He said He would do to His people." ~NASB

1 Samuel 15:29 "Also the Glory of Israel will not lie or change His mind; for He is not a man that He should change His mind."

So how do we reconcile these "furious opposites" as G.K. Chesterton would refer to them? How do we settle this issue of an immutable (unchangeable God) that changed His mind? Well, when C.H. Spurgeon was asked how he reconciled certain "furious opposites" of Scripture his reply was that he didn't need to reconcile close friends.

Let's see what Spurgeon was getting at by taking a step back and looking at Exodus 32:14 in context. In 32:9 the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them, in order that I may make a great nation of you." And so it seemed that God would break His covenant with Israel to bring them up from Egypt to the promised land and make a great nation of Jacob's children. It seemed that the Lord's irrevocable call (Romans 11:29) was about to be revoked. He seemed to leave the matter in the hands of Moses... but whose hands was Moses in?!? And so Moses couldn't help but appeal in verses 11-14 to what God swore to do for His servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Israel (v.13).

For further understanding we can look at 2 Chronicles 30 where King Hezekiah seeks repentance for Israel, that they might turn once again as a nation to the Lord.

v.9 For if you return to the LORD, your brothers and your sons will find compassion before those who led them captive and will return to this land. For the LORD your God is gracious and compassionate, and will not turn His face away from you if you return to Him." When we see conditional responsiveness of God to man's choices the natural tendency is to make a *"philosophical conclusion" as John Piper would refer to it, by reasoning that God's response depends on what man chooses. We stare at the "if" and claim it as ours. But if the Holy Spirit humbles our mind and heart so that we may abstain from adding the reasoning of man to Scripture and simply let scripture speak for itself we will find what God's response really hinges on. In verse 12 it is revealed "The hand of God was also on Judah to give them one heart to do what the king and the princes commanded by the word of the LORD." So let us rather rest on the "biblical conclusion" that it is God's hand that works through it all.

An analogy I like to use is a windy road that ends at a southern destination. At times the road bends (repents) and heads north for a while, but the final destination and the road there have already been predetermined, the bends are all part of the path to getting us to the final destination.

You see, the greatest fruits of the truths of Scripture are not in the high and lofty branches where only the mightiest intellectuals may obtain them, rather they grow near to the ground where a child can reach them but only the humbled would dare to stoop.

Unlike Philip Yancey I do believe Scriptures life principles reduce to a logical consistency (just not the logic of man [Isaiah 55:8]) if we allow the Word to dictate that logic to us. The simple truth here is... God keeps His promises.


"I have observed that all the heresies and errors
have arisen not from Scripture's own plain statements,
but when that plainness of statement is ignored, and men
follow the Scholastic arguments of their own brains." ~Martin Luther


*Proverbs 28:26 "Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered."

References for further study:
The Immutability of God
"Taste and See" by John Piper Daily Meditation #19 'Beware of Common Sense!'