Good Morning Everyone,
Our theme for this month: “Change”
Our Bible verse for today: “The Lord changed His mind about the terrible disaster He had threatened to bring on His people.” Exodus 32:14 (NLT)
Our thought for today: “Sometimes God changes His mind.”
Does it surprise you to learn that God sometimes changes His mind about things? He does. It’s a divine mystery and difficult for our human minds to comprehend but even though God is Omniscient (He knows everything before it even happens), and therefore He knew what He would do even before it came to pass, the Bible is clear that He still sometimes changes His mind based upon the prayers and actions of His people.
In the situation in Exodus chapter thirty-two, the people of Israel had sinned greatly by worshiping the Golden Calf. God was so mad at them that He decided to wipe out the entire nation, except for Moses, and then start all over again by raising up a new people for Himself. But Moses pleaded with Him to please spare the people and so, despite their great sin, in verse 14 we read that as a result of Moses’ plea God changed His mind and relented.
We read of a similar situation in Genesis chapter eighteen when Abraham pleaded and negotiated with God for the deliverance of the towns of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham kept asking God to change His mind and to spare the cities if a certain number of righteous people could be found in them. Every time Abraham asked, God changed His mind and agreed to the conditions Abraham proposed. Unfortunately for the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, despite the fact that Abraham kept lowering the number of righteous people needed to ensure deliverance, and despite the fact that God kept agreeing to it, none were found and the cities were destroyed. But the point is that God was willing to be persuaded to change His mind.
Those are just two Old Testament examples. There are many others in both the Old and New Testaments. God is willing to change His mind about things based upon the prayers and petitions of His people. Biblically are there any conditions that must first be met in order to get God to change His mind about something? Yes, there are. In James 4:3 we read:
“You ask and don’t receive because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your evil desires.” (HCSB)
Also, in 1 John 5:14 the Apostle tells us, “Now this is the confidence we have before Him: Whenever we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears whatever we ask, we know that we have what we have asked Him for.” (HCSB)
So first, your motives for asking have to be right. But beyond that, if what you’re asking for falls within the realm of what God is willing to allow, He could be persuaded to change His mind and the situation could turn out differently than it would have if you had not prayed. The Biblical truth is that sometimes God does change His mind.
God Bless,
Pastor Jim
Oak Hill Baptist Church 