Change of Mind

1 Samuel 15:29 [God[, “the Strength of Israel will not lie nor repent: for He is not a man, that He should repent."

I read that there are a number of Scriptures that speak of God repenting. For example, in the days before the great Flood, "it repented the Lord God that he had made man on the earth" (Genesis 6:6). In the same chapter containing our text, God said: "It repents me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments" (1 Samuel 15:11). Yet the Scriptures plainly teach that God changes not. "God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent" (Numbers 23:19). Bible critics have made much of this apparent "contradiction" in the Bible.

The article stated that there is no contradiction, of course. The words translated "repent" in both Old and New Testaments are used of actions which indicate outwardly that a "change of mind" has occurred inwardly. It is precisely because God does not repent concerning evil that His actions will change toward man when man truly repents (this human "repentance" can go either way, changing from good to evil, or vice versa), and God will respond accordingly, since He cannot change His own mind toward evil.

Thus, He said concerning national repentance: "If that nation, against whom I have pronounced, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do unto them" (Jeremiah 18:8). Good news! That is, if the nation truly repents, then God will change His own projected course of action. He seems outwardly to "repent," specifically because He cannot repent in His inward attitude toward good and evil.

God has greatly blessed America in the past, but are America's people blessing God?" Will America, whose National Motto is “In God We Trust”, faithful honor and respect the Creator of Heaven and Earth, their Maker, or compromise to the darkness of sin and unbelief found in atheistic secular humanism? May we repent of such prideful arrogance and remain faithful and true to the Almighty’s Word, Will and Way in a fallen world, shinning like a light on a hills for all to see and find their way to life and the kingdom of God. Change of mind towards and for the Lord.