Thoughts From A.W. Tozer

Dear Friends,

When I first started preaching, I was told by one individual, “You’re too theological, you need to be more practical.” I took the critique to heart but was a bit confused, since I find theology immensely practical, helpful, and life-sustaining! In fact, I chose this selection for today precisely because it’s an example of how “theology” can have its practical and life-changing effects on us.

It’s from A.W. Tozer’s book, “The Knowledge of the Holy” – a book I would recommend as a ‘must read’ for those who like going deeper than just skimming the surface of things. This particular thought deals with God’s “unchangeableness” or as theologians prefer to put it, “God’s Immutability.” Give it a read and see if such theological and biblical truth does not offer real and practical help to those truly seeking it. Enjoy.

Theological Truth:
“For a moral being to change it would be necessary that the change be in one of three directions. He must go from better to worse or from worse to better; or, granted that the moral quality remains stable, he must change within himself, as from immature to mature or from one order of being to another. It should be clear that God can move in none of these directions. His perfections forever rule out any such possibility.

God cannot change for the better. Since he is perfectly holy, he has never been less holy than he is now and can never be holier than he is and has always been. Neither can God change for the worse. Any deterioration within the unspeakably holy nature of God is impossible. Indeed, I believe it impossible even to think of such a thing, for the moment we attempt to do so, the object about which we are thinking is no longer God but something else and someone less than he. The one of whom we are thinking may be a great and awesome creature, but because he is a creature he cannot be the self-existent Creator.

As there can be no mutation in the moral character of God, so there can be none within the divine essence. The being of God is unique in the only proper meaning of that word; that is, his being is other than, and different from, all other beings. We have seen how God differs from His creatures in being self-existent, self-sufficient and eternal. By virtue of these attributes God is God and not some other being. One who can suffer even the slightest degree of change is neither self-existent, self-sufficient nor eternal – and so is not God… All that God is he has always been, and all that he has been and is he will forever be. Nothing that God has ever said about himself will be modified, nothing the inspired prophets and apostles have said about him will be rescinded. His immutability guarantees this.

Practical Application:
Of what use to me is the knowledge that God is immutable?” someone will ask. “Can it have any real significance for practical people?”… In this world where people forget us, change their attitude toward us as their private interests dictate, and revise their opinion of us for the slightest cause, is it not a source of wondrous strength to know that the God with whom we have to do changes not? That His attitude toward us now is the same as it was in eternity past and will be in eternity to come?

What peace it brings to the Christian's heart to realize that our Heavenly Father never differs from Himself. In coming to him at any time we need not wonder whether we shall find Him in a receptive mood. He is always receptive to misery and need, as well as to love and faith. He does not keep office hours nor set aside periods when he will see no one. Neither does he change his mind about anything.

Today, this moment, he feels toward His creatures, toward babies, toward the sick, the fallen, the sinful, exactly as he did when he sent his only-begotten Son into the world to die for mankind. God never changes moods, cools off in his affections or loses enthusiasm. His attitude toward sin is now the same as it was when he drove out the sinful man from the garden, and his attitude toward the sinner the same as when he stretched forth His hands and cried, "Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest."

God will not compromise, and he need not be coaxed. He cannot be persuaded to alter His Word, nor talked into answering selfish prayer. In all our efforts to find God, to please Him, to commune with Him, we should remember that all change must be on our part. For as he says, "I am the LORD, I do not change” (Malachi 3:6).

Prayer:
O Christ our Lord, you who are the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13:8), you have been our dwelling place in all generations. As woodchucks scurry to their hole, we have run to you for safety. As birds return to their nest from their wanderings, so have we flown to you for peace and safety. Chance and change are busy in our little world of nature and people, but in you we find no variableness nor shadow of turning. In you we rest without fear or doubt and face our tomorrows without anxiety. Amen.”

In a world that is ever-changing – sometimes at a dizzying pace – only one thing remains as solid and stable and secure and comforting and trustworthy today, as it always has been, and always will be, in the multitude of eons moving forward – the being and essence and character of our eternally unchangeable and redeeming God. What a secure rock upon which to build our lives in this world of ever-shifting sands.

To him be glory for all that he is, forever and ever, amen! Pastor Jeff