Articles

Question
Does the Bible teach the Lord is immutable? If so, why pray?

Answer
Because the Lord has no beginning and no ending, He cannot change. He is immutable in His essence, because His nature and being are infinite. The Lord cannot evolve, grow or improve. He is eternally self-existing and self-sustaining. This irrefutable aspect of His being is called His asceity. All He is today, He has ever been and will ever be. He cannot change for the better, for He is already perfect; and being perfect, He cannot change for the worse. He is uninfluenced by time; therefore, His power can never diminish, nor does His glory ever fade. As He proclaimed in Malachi 3:6, "I am the Lord, I change not."

God is immutable; therefore, His will can never change (Num. 23:19, I Sam 15:29, Job 23:13, Romans 11:29). One of two things causes a man to change his mind: lack of foresight to anticipate, or lack of power to execute. However, the Lord is both omniscient and omnipotent; therefore, He has no need to revise any of His decrees (Psalm 33:11, Hebrews 6:17). This is really “good news” for Christians. Finite and fallen man is mutable, unstable as water (Genesis 49:4), but no matter how unstable our circumstances or how fickle our friends, one thing we can know for sure is the Lord changes not and cannot change. His purpose is fixed. His will is stable. His word is sure. The permanence of God's character guarantees the fulfillment of His promises (Isaiah 54:10). What comfort would there be in praying to a god that, like the chameleon, changed color every moment?

You ask: “What is the use of praying if the Lord’s will is already fixed?”

The answer is simple. His will requires it. What blessings has God promised without our seeking them? “You do not have, because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives (James 4:2, 3).” Christ said in John 14:13, “Whatever you ask in My name (names are representative of people, so to pray in His name means according to His will, praying as He would pray, aligning yourself with the immutable and holy will of your heavenly Father as Christ did), I will do it, so the Father may be glorified in the Son.” “If we ask anything according to His will, He hears us (I John 5:14)” and He has willed everything for the good of those “called according to His purpose” and for His glory (Romans 8:28). For us to ask for anything contrary to His will is not prayer, but rebellion.

However, the ungodly cannot take comfort in God’s immutable character. Those who defy the Lord, who ignore His will, who have no concern for His word, who live as though He does not exist, should not suppose, when they cry for His mercy on the Day of Judgment, He will alter His will, revoke His word or rescind His punishment (Ezekiel 8:18). The Lord is unchangingly holy; therefore, His hatred of sin demands its eternal punishment.