Did you know God changes his mind?
Exodus 32:12, 14
“Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce wrath; change your mind and do not bring disaster on your people … And the Lord changed his mind about the disaster that he planned to bring on his people.”
This text makes us uncomfortable, frankly, because we’re so conditioned to think of God as an immutable and unchanging. Yet the witness of scripture is clear that God changed his mind.
The people had been fickle. They had built golden calves while Moses was up on the mountain, establishing a covenant with God. God had every right to be angry.
Yet Moses was the great intercessor of intercessors. He reminded God of God‘s promises. And God changed his mind.
God didn’t change his mind because he’s fickle, or because he’s forgetful. God changed his mind because he is faithful. God is faithful to God’s promises.
What does this say about the possibilities for our prayer lives? May we pray like Moses. Prayer is not about manipulating God. However, there’s something about lifting before God the things God already knows that gets us in touch with the blessings of God’s promises.
One lady once told me that when she prays, she reminds God that God promised never to leave her or forsake her. By jove, I think she’s got it.
Have a blessed day.
