Scripture
For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob, are not consumed.
— Malachi 3:6 (ESV)
Devotional
It is well for us that, amidst all the variableness of life, there is One whom change cannot affect; One whose heart can never alter, and on whose brow mutability can make no furrows. All things else have changed–all things are changing. The sun itself grows dim with age; the world is waxing old; the folding up of the worn-out vesture has commenced; the heavens and earth must soon pass away; they shall perish, they shall wax old as doth a garment; but there is One who only hath immortality, of whose years there is no end, and in whose person there is no change. The delight which the mariner feels, when, after having been tossed about for many a day, he steps again upon the solid shore, is the satisfaction of a Christian when, amidst all the changes of this troublous life, he rests the foot of his faith upon this truth–“I am the Lord, I change not.” The stability which the anchor gives the ship when it has at last obtained a hold-fast, is like that which the Christian’s hope affords him when it fixes itself upon this glorious truth. With God “is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” Whatever his attributes were of old, they are now; his power, his wisdom, his justice, his truth, are alike unchanged. He has ever been the refuge of his people, their stronghold in the day of trouble, and he is their sure Helper still. He is unchanged in his love. He has loved his people with “an everlasting love”; he loves them now as much as ever he did, and when all earthly things shall have melted in the last conflagration, his love will still wear the dew of its youth. Precious is the assurance that he changes not! The wheel of providence revolves, but its axle is eternal love. “Death and change are busy ever, Man decays, and ages move; But his mercy waneth never; God is wisdom, God is love.”
Reflection
“I the LORD do not change.” Spurgeon pictures a sailor stepping onto solid shore after days of being tossed around. Everything else is wearing out like an old coat, but God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And look at what Malachi says follows: “therefore you are not consumed.” We’re still standing, not because we’re steady, but because He is.
Goad
What has shifted under your feet lately, and have you planted your faith on the God who doesn’t shift?
Tie-In
Morning rests on a God who never changes. Evening asks whether sin still grieves us. A holy God who never changes forms people who take sin seriously.
Closing
Spurgeon’s classic text with a brief reflection to help today’s reader.
If these words have stirred something, sit with it.
NewGrapes Ministries. Making disciples, not pew-fillers. Soli Deo Gloria.
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