"For all the promises of God in Him are Yes, and in Him Amen, to the glory of God through us." (NKJV)
"God is not human, that He should lie, not a human being, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill it? . . . He has blessed and I cannot change it." (Numbers 23:19, 20b NIV)
God cannot lie. What He says, He will do. In Hebrews, it’s explained that God both promised and then confirmed that promise with an oath, both which are immutable.
"Thus God, determining to show more abundantly to the heirs of promise the immutability of His counsel, confirmed it by an oath, that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we might have strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before us." (Hebrews 6:17-18 NKJV)
What is "immutable?"
The English definition is that it is something that cannot change. The Greek word, ametathetos, is a compound word: a (meaning negative) and metatithemi (meaning "to change") (Strong’s G276). It was a legal (technical) word used in writing wills and lends itself to the idea that whatever was established cannot be changed.
God’s promises to us are immutable based on two things: His holy character and the oath that He made through the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and through His Word. Nothing that He has promised can be changed, even if He wanted to (which He doesn’t). It contains within it the force of immutability. Not only can it not be changed, it is not susceptible to change. It is impossible for God to even consider changing His mind.
All that being said, then how can it appear that God doesn’t act on His promises? We pray and what we expect doesn’t happen. We ask and it appears that we don’t receive. James gives us two reasons why our prayers are unanswered:
"You ask and do not receive, because you ask amiss, that you may spend it on your pleasures." (James 4:3 NKJV)
"But let him ask in faith, with no doubting, for he who doubts is like a wave of the sea driven and tossed by the wind. For let not that man suppose that he will receive anything from the Lord; he is a double-minded man, unstable in all his ways." (James 1:6-8 NKJV).
In James 4, we ask "amiss," meaning that we have wrong motives behind our prayers. Our requests are not that we might live more in the will of God but that we might have what we want to make this life easier and more self-indulgent. In James 1, we ask but we doubt that we will receive. We aren’t sure that God can or will do what we ask.
Let me propose a third option as well. We ask, misunderstanding what God has promised. Because we want to avoid the future we think we are facing, we take scripture and twist it to our own devices. Then, when the "promise" isn’t fulfilled, we are left believing that God has lied to us.
He hasn’t. He cannot lie.
God’s promises are always true, but our understanding of what we read as His promise may be faulty.
In Numbers 22, Balak was king of Moab. He sent for Balaam, a prophet, so that Balaam could convince God to curse the Israelites. The first time, Balak took Balaam where they could see all of the Israelites camped in the plains of Moab. But rather than curse the Israelites (whom God had already blessed), Balaam spoke blessing on them. Hoping for a different response, Balak then—twice—took Balaam to different vantage points where they could only see a "part" of the Israelites. Balak’s logic was that if Balaam could only see some of the Israelites, perhaps then God would curse them (23:13 and 27).
When we find ourselves faced with great trials, we will sometimes use just a small piece of God’s Word, trying to back God into a corner and "forcing" Him to do what we want by claiming that He cannot lie so He has to do what He said He would do. The problem is, by exegeting scripture in such a manner, we are actually forcing words into God’s mouth that He didn’t say! He cannot lie, but He will also not be manipulated. God’s promises are always true, but our understanding of scripture may not always be true. It’s important, as believers, that we are convinced that God cannot lie. If there is a doubt about the validity of scripture, the problem never lies with God but with our understanding of what we have read or studied. God promises are always true and are for the purpose of bringing Him glory through our lives.
© 2015 Robin L. O’Hare. All rights reserved. Permission granted for nonprofit and church groups to use this article in its entirety (including this notice). For other uses, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com.
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