Did Moses Change God’s Mind?

One of the first articles I ever wrote was an attempt to answer this question: "In Exodus 32, did Moses change God's mind"? This morning we took on a similar question in our Tough Questions series. My answer today is about the same as it was in 2007:

Malachi 3:6 states, "For I the LORD do not change; therefore you, O children of Jacob are no consumed." (ESV). Numbers 23:19 "God is not man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he shouild change his mind. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?" These verses make clear that God does not change His mind. Psalm 33:11, 102:25-27; and Hebrews 6:17-18 speak of God’s unchangeable purposes.

So what do we make of Exodus 32 (or even Isaiah 38:1-6 or Jonah 3:4, 10)?

While God was giving Moses the 10 Commandments the people of Israel began getting a little restless, so they did what we all do--make our own gods. In verse 10, God meets the Israelites with anger. He is ready to consume every one of them save for Moses. Then Moses prays, focusing on the honor of God’s name, appeals to God’s faithfulness, and pleads with God to continue considering Israel as His people. In verse 14 we read, “And the LORD relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people”.

When we read this we understand the word “relented” (KJV’s ‘repented’, NASB’s ‘changed his mind’, or NLT ‘withdrew his threat’) literally. Yet it is actually what we theologians call an anthropopathism. Which is a big word that simply means “giving God human emotions. From our perspective it appears that God ‘relents’ or ‘changes his mind’, but from God’s perspective He is appropriately dealing with changes in human behavior.

If men turn away from sin and repent God will forgive. There is little difference between God’s ‘changing’ in Exodus 32 and His ‘changing’ when a sinner turns and repents. Scripture states that one apart from Christ is “God’s enemy” and has “the wrath of God upon him”. Yet, as soon as a person “repents and believes in the Lord Jesus Christ” he is saved from the wrath to come. God’s view of a person is no longer that of enemy but of a friend. It is similar in this situation: Moses repents (as the representative head of the people), God responds to Moses’ repentance and forgives or ‘relents’.

So does God change His mind? Absolutely not. God is forever unchanging in His character and in His purposes. Yet as Wayne Grudem comments, "God does act and feel emotions, and he acts and feels differently in response to different situations".
That does not make God unchanging it merely makes Him living.

The real question is this, "Did Moses change God's mind (so as to catch God by surprise) or was Moses' intercessory prayer all a part of God's will and purpose to show His grace?"

Scripture clearly shows that God’s character does not change. He has the same settled disposition towards sin. When Moses prayed He did not change God’s mind. To hold to a doctrine which says, "Moses changed God's mind" is contrary to what God says in Scripture. He is unswerving in His character and purposes. Moses did not change the course of history, nor catch God off-guard by praying for the Israelites, just as the death of Christ was ordained from the foundation of world, so Moses' prayer was forever in God's plan.

Therefore, this unchanging God is mighty to save! If we had a changing God then our hope would be lost. If He can change in His affections for me (meaning: constantly in response to me--so as to say "I changed God's mind") then He can do so positively or negatively. What confidence do we have then in our salvation as well as in the God of our salvation?

Take heart, as God said in Malachi 3:6, his unchanging character and purpose is so that we are not consumed. If he could change then we would be consumed. Be comforted in the fact that God's purpose is set and He is able to save us to the uttermost. The blood of Christ is still sufficient and ALWAYS will be.

Blogging as Manna

John Newton extracted this principle from the Israelite’s hoarding of manna:

The truths by which the soul is fed,
Must thus be had afresh;
For notions resting in the head,
Will only feed the flesh.

However true, they have no life,
Or unction to impart;
They breed the worms of pride and strife,
But cannot cheer the heart.

Nor can the best experience past,
The life of faith maintain;
The brightest hope will faint at last,
Unless supplied again.

We need a daily supply of grace. Newton firmly believed that with each new day we must encounter the God of grace anew. Otherwise we will wither. We cannot maintain a life of faith drawing on yesterday’s manna. Our God is a daily God.

Blogging is often used by God to bring us our daily manna.

If you aren’t aware of this (and at home with this) as a blogger you will get burned. 95% of what you write will disappear into the wasteland only a few hours after your write it. A few people will read it. Some will feast. Others will skip right over it looking for bread elsewhere. And then it’s gone.

If you write to be epic blogging will be a discouraging enterprise. For every article that has decent reach you will write a hundred more that only your mom will retweet. Such is the nature of manna. It seldom seems like much at the time but it is subtly sustaining people in their walk with Christ.

Therefore, write to give people daily grace. Be comfortable that at most you will only be used by God to sustain someone for the day.

Now there is one sense in which blogging is nothing like manna. In actuality what you write doesn’t appear into the ether. It gets swallowed up and stored somewhere in Al Gore’s basement—forever able to be accessed. In this sense what you write doesn’t get maggots and eventually disappear. It stays forever.

While it is true that our blog articles usually vanish from people’s minds this does not mean that we do not need to be careful and Christ-honoring with all of our words. What we say stays forever. And therefore we blog with an eternal perspective all the while knowing that the Lord is simply using us at times to provide daily grace.

Lessons from a Bearded-Dude Waving a Stick

“Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed.  But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side.  So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.”

Why in the world is this necessary?  If God wanted to strike the armies of Amalek, display his power, and rescue Israel why did he not simply send a tornado or something cool like that?  Why does it depend on a bearded dude raising a stick in the air? 

I do not know for sure but I have a couple of guesses.  There are a couple of things that this act communicates.  Lessons that are vitally important for Israel—and remain vitally important even for us.  One thing that this story communicates is that Moses is the conduit of grace that God is going to use to lead Israel fully out of Egypt and into the Promised Land.  God works through leaders.  Leaders are important.

But the second lesson is just as important as the first—Moses is only a conduit of grace.  Even though the mission vitally depends on God using Moses to lift up his hands, Moses is still just a man that cannot hold up his hands all day.

Can you imagine trying to do what Moses was asked to do? 

Do you remember in grade school whenever the teacher for some unknown reason refused to call on you?  (Perhaps, she had had enough wisecracks).  I do.  And I remember it didn’t take long for my little hands to get tired and I had to start propping it up with my other arm.  Then I’d switch hands.  And then switch hands.  And then again.  (Now, that I’m thinking about this…come on teacher…why didn’t you call on me?) 

Well those few minutes in grade school always felt like an eternity.  I cannot imagine what Moses felt like having to hold his hand up for hours upon hours.

The Pressure of Leadership

But this is more important than getting to answer a question (or at least make a funny remark).  If Moses lets down his hands some of his people are going to bite the bullet.  That’s a lot of pressure.  Moses cannot afford to take a 15 minute break and rest his hands.  In 15 minutes a battle can be decided.  So Moses cannot take a breather. 

This helps us to kind of realize that leaders face much pressure.  Often if we “let down our hands” the movement suffers, or even worse real-true-to life individual people suffer.  So leaders get weary keeping their hands held up all day.  We know that if we let our hands down it will be for our detriment and the detriment of others. 

The Necessity of Aaron’s and Hur’s

But the reality, like with Moses, is that sometimes you just cannot do it.  Conduits of grace need to be propped up.  Even the best of men are men at best.  And that means we will have to let our hands down.  We aren’t the savior.  We aren’t the provision.  God is.  We are the conduit and sometimes conduits get weak and can’t do their job anymore. 

Thankfully, there is a third way.  Leaders can be propped up.  It’s still Moses keeping his hands up, but Aaron and Hur are standing beside him and lifting up his weary hands when he cannot.  Leaders need Aarons and Hur’s in their lives. 

I am thankful for the men and women that God has placed in my life to be my Aaron or Hur.  I have had dear brothers and sisters in Christ come alongside me in times of my greatest weaknesses and prop up my leadership.  They’ve been used, by God’s grace, to keep my weary hands from dropping.  Aaron and Hur are just as vital as Moses.

Victory is a community project! 

Hoarding v. A Daily God

I’m growing, but I still have pack-rat tendencies. 

There are still a few objects that I have a really hard time getting rid of: screws, bolts, springs, various parts that I have no idea what they are or what they are for, old shirts, ratty jeans, and “important” papers that will probably in reality remain unnecessary until well after Jesus returns. 

I keep these things because, hey…you never know when you might need them.  Which has proven itself true maybe about three times in my life.  There was that one time that I was able to use a spring, then I needed some ratty jeans for a paint job, and I just so happened to still have an “important” paper.  But mostly, it just piles up and makes it to where sometimes I cannot find things that I actually need. 

Now, this is not a HUGE problem.  I do not need to go on that Hoarders show…at least not yet.  But at root I have the same heart issue.  And I am guessing you might too. 

Hoarding in Exodus

We see this same tendency manifest itself in Exodus 16.  The people of Israel are starving in the wilderness.  God provides manna.  But he is only going to provide it every morning.  They cannot keep it.  (except before the Sabbath—when there will not be any that morning). 

If you try to hoard manna you get a mouth full of worms and stank when you try to chomp into in the morning. 

But even though they are warned of the worm and stank deal, there are some people that try to keep the manna for tomorrow…because, hey can I really be sure that it will be there in the morning?  And so some of them kept some manna around just in case. 

You see the reason why God does this is because He wants the Israelites to know that He is a daily God.  “His mercies are new every morning”.  He also wants them to know that their relationship of faith and trust is also a daily necessity.  Our God is an everyday is God.

Or at least He should be. 

A Daily God

But I must confess that often I do not have a daily experience of God’s grace.  My relationship with God is often more like a roller coaster, with extreme highs and lows.  I am convinced that our relationship with God is more like the Thunder River than the Screamin’ Eagle; a long, slow journey together through various dips, waterfalls, etc.  rather than a quick jaunt up and down huge inclines and declines. 

As I reflect on Exodus 16 I begin to wonder whether part of the reason why God doesn’t seem like a daily God is because I hoard.  Like the stupid servant in Luke 19 I bury talents, treasures, “manna”, in the hopes of being able to keep it…you know, just in case. 

God isn’t calling us to keep things for tomorrow, “just in case”.  God is calling us to live by faith everyday so that we can see the wonders of a relationship with a daily God.  Today I want to enjoy this day and not have a hoarding mentality that tries to protect tomorrow. 

For an amazing look at this Manna Principle I would suggest purchasing Ed Welch’s book Running Scared.

Nip it in the bud!

“Nip it, Nip it in the bud!”

That of course is one of the famous sayings of one Bernard P. Fife.  His philosophy of the law is evidenced in the episode Barney’s Sidecar.  Here Barney is patrolling with his new toy—a motorcycle.  He decides to crack down on the trucker drivers going 5 over the speed limit just to get up a hill.



(The clip to watch starts at about 1:50 and ends at about 2:40)

Barney may be going a little overboard as far as the laws of Mayberry are concerned, but I think he is right on when it comes to sin.  As John Owen once noted:

Sin aims always at the utmost; every time it rises up to tempt or entice, if it has its own way it will go out to the utmost sin in that kind. Every unclean thought or glance would be adultery if it could, every thought of unbelief would be atheism if allowed to develop. Every rise of lust, if it has its way reaches the height of villainy; it is like the grave that is never satisfied. The deceitfulness of sin is seen in that it is modest in its first proposals but when it prevails it hardens mens’ hearts, and brings them to ruin.

We see this pictured in Pharaoh.  As you read through the Exodus narrative each time he desires to keep at least a little influence over the Egyptians.  At one point he says “I’ll let just your men go”.  Then he says, “I’ll let everybody go, but I’m keeping the livestock”.

That won’t do.  God is not satisfied with only a partial redemption.  All that He promised to deliver out of Egyptian slavery will be rescued.  It is the same way with our redemption.  Christ will not be satisfied until His sheep are absolutely rescued—both in number and extent. 

Total Deliverance

But as you know we do not yet live in total deliverance.  Yes, Christ has struck the death blow and has certainly secured our total redemption.  But we are not there yet.  We are positionally rescued out of Egypt but our hearts still have remnants of rebellion and our flesh still carries the stench of Egypt. 

I think if given the option, on their own, the Israelites would have settled for just a little redemption.  They, like us, would have probably been satisfied (at least at first) with the pain of slavery ceasing.  It doesn’t have to be total redemption—just enough to keep me from being totally miserable.  It is true, “we are far too easily pleased”. 

And it is because of this ease of satisfaction that we refuse to “nip it in the bud”.  We flirt with sin and dance with demons of deception.  Rather than running out of Egypt we tend to walk with one foot towards the Promised Land and the other dragging itself out of bondage.  We assume that we can let Pharaoh keep his livestock without that leading to a return to slave labor. 

Just like Pharaoh, Satan wants us to allow him to keep just a little control.  He is satisfied with that, because he knows that even one little seed of doubt can blossom into absolute rebellion, a destruction of humanity, and a defaming of God’s glory.  He’ll take that “little”. 

Thankfully that is not the end of the story.  Even though we are content with just a little redemption, Christ is not.  With the entire force of the Trinity, the Godhead is working for our complete redemption.  Someday Christ will without question triumph and finally once and for all “nip it in the bud”!

It Doesn’t Change the Promise

C.S. Lewis once quipped:

"God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks to us in our conscience, but shouts in our pains: It is His megaphone to rouse a deaf world."  (Problem of Pain, 140)

I agree with Lewis that this is true most of the time.  But then again, there are times when our suffering causes us to be so broken that we cannot even hear (or respond positively) to the voice of God.  Consider Exodus 6.  God gives a long list of what He is about to do in the lives of the Israelites.  He promises all this:

• I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians
• I will deliver you from slavery to them
• I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment
• I will take you to be my people
• I will be your God
• You will know that I am the LORD your God—who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians
• I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  I will give it to you for a possession

To top it all off he attaches His name--The LORD—to the beginning of this litany and to its end.  That is HUGE.  The very character and viability of the LORD is attached to Him coming through on these promises. 
You would think that such bold promises would “rouse a deaf world” in the midst of their suffering.  But notice what happens:

“…they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery”  (emphasis mine)

Occasionally our spirit is so broken and our bondage so taxing that we do not respond believingly to the promises of God.  Sometimes our pain is the megaphone and the voice of God is the whisper.

If the Israelite’s are anything like me they wanted to believe everything that Moses was saying, but because they were still living on the slavery side of redemption they could not fathom rescue.  Their spirit was too broken to even have a spark of faith.  Their bondage was too burdensome to dream of a Promised Land.

But this is one reason I really love the LORD.  “He knows our frame, he remembers that we are but dust”.  The Israelites are not simply being stubborn and discontent here, they are broken and God knows that.  And because of this He is going to rescue the Israelites whether they believe Him or not; at least in this instance.

It Doesn’t Change the Promise

A good husband does not respond to his broken-spirited wife only when she musters up enough strength to believe a ridiculously awesome and yet hard to believe promise.  No, a good husband rescues His broken-spirited wife even while her spirit is absolutely crushed; so crushed in fact that she cannot even turn towards her husband.

Her broken spirit does not change the promise of God.  All seven of those promises God fulfilled to the Israelites.  And He has fulfilled them in an even mightier way through our redemption in Jesus.  And He did it even while His bride was constantly vacillating between firm belief, broken-spirited dullness, and even disbelief.

I am glad that God is more dedicated to the glory of His name than to responding to my varying frames.  Perhaps that is why I have always taken such encouragement from this gem by John Bunyan:

“One day as I was passing into the field, this sentence fell upon my soul: ‘Thy righteousness is in heaven.’ And with the eyes of my soul I saw Jesus at the Father’s right hand. ‘There,’ I said, ‘is my righteousness!’ So that wherever I was or whatever I was doing, God could not say to me, ‘Where is your righteousness?’ For it is always right before him.

I saw that it is not my good frame of heart that made my righteousness better, nor yet my bad frame that made my righteousness worse, for my righteousness IS Christ. Now my chains fell off indeed. My temptations fled away, and I lived sweetly at peace with God.

Now I could look from myself to him and could reckon that all my character was like the coins a rich man carries in his pocket when all his gold is safe in a trunk at home. Oh I saw that my gold was indeed in a trunk at home, in Christ my Lord. Now Christ was all: my righteousness, sanctification, redemption.”

The most vital thing in our life today is union with Christ.  If we have Christ then we have everything…yes, even when in a “bad frame”.

Mustard Stains and Stuttering Speech

One mustard stain can ruin everything.  It doesn’t really matter that 99.4% of my shirt is clean.  It’s that .6% of mustard stain (or maybe 15% pending on how I tackled that sandwich) that my eyes immediately go to. 

We are like that aren’t we?  Some more than others.  We tend to focus on the blemishes.  Blemishes have a tendency to register a pretty hefty on the “am I cool or not” scale.  Enough blemishes (whether perceived or real) and you won’t feel adequate even if you have a staff that turns into a snake or a hand that can change from leprosy to healed quicker than a Hollywood “marriage”. 

In Exodus 4 an insecure Moses tells the LORD that he is afraid the people will not listen to him.  To help Moses God empowers his staff to turn into a serpent and back again.  If that doesn’t do the trick then he will do his sweet leprosy-hands trick.  If even then they do not listen God assures him that this third thing will certainly garner their confidence…he will turn water from the Nile into blood. 

To this Moses responds:

“Oh, my Lord, I am not eloquent, either in the past or since you have spoken to your servant, but I am slow of speech and tongue.” 

Seriously, Moses?  You have a staff that can turn into a snake and you are afraid people will laugh at your lisp? 

But maybe Moses is on to something.  I mean what do you remember about Mike Tyson?  Of course you remember that he was a beast in the ring, he bit a guys ear, he did time in prison, etc.  But you also remember his voice don’t you?  It kind of made it hard to take him all that seriously because no matter how hard he could punch his voice didn’t match the muscle and we couldn’t take him serious.

His Grace is Sufficient

So, why then doesn’t God change Moses’ speech?  That seems to be something that Moses is sort of asking when he says, “or since you have spoken to your servant”.  It seems as if Moses is saying, “heal my tongue and I’m all yours”. “Cure my blemish, God, and I’ll jaunt into Pharaoh’s house right now and tell him what’s up”. 

But that is not what God does is it?  Instead he says, “I’ll be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak”. 

Fast forward a few millenniums to the apostle Paul, who has a thorn in the flesh.  We have really no idea what this thorn is other than that it was a “messenger of Satan sent to torment”.  This is Paul’s “blemish”.  He, like Moses, pleaded with God to take it away.  And just like with Moses, God’s response was, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness”. 

What does this mean for you and I?  It means that God probably is not going to fix all of our weaknesses or cure all of our blemishes.  It also means that He doesn’t need to.  Our life is about magnifying the Lord—His power is made perfect in our weaknesses.  So, may we like Paul

“boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.  For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities.  For when I am weak, then I am strong. 

In other words God loves, uses, and magnifies himself in the midst of mustard stains—no matter how many or how large.  His grace truly is sufficient. 

You’ll Know When You Get There

I tend to give the type of directions that people hate.  Actually, I give the type of directions that I hate.  You know the ones that are never detailed and usually end with something like, “don’t worry you’ll know when you get there—you can’t miss it”. 

Well, what if I do miss it?  What if I’m a total moron?  I am the guy that once stopped at a gas station to get directions for the building across the street.  It is possible that I could totally miss the obvious building that even a monkey could drive to. 

These type of directions stress me out because they require a good amount of trust in the person giving them.  First of all, I have to trust that he/she knows my level of imbecility.  I have to trust that if he says I cannot miss it—he genuinely knows that I CANNOT miss it this time.  Secondly, I have to trust that he/she really can guide me to this “obvious” location. 

God’s Answer to Moses

“Trust me” type of directions can be really disconcerting.  And it is precisely these type of directions that God gives Moses in Exodus 3. 

Moses says to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?”  His question is certainly sensible.  Who is Moses that he—a stuttering murderer—should lead Israel out of Egypt? 

If I were Moses and God responded to me in this way, I’m not sure that I would have found what he said helpful.  Check out God’s response:

“But I will be with you, and this shall be a sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain”.

In other words God is saying, “once you’ve brought them out of Egypt then you will know that I called you to bring them out of Egypt”. 

Is “I will be with you” enough?

I wouldn’t have been cool with this response.  I should be cool with this response—but I’m not.  The problem is with me, not with God’s answer.  But I don’t want God to say, “trust me, you’ll know it when you get there”.  I want God to give me a picture now, map it out.  Don’t just tell me—once this has been accomplished you’ll look back and say—see I told you so.  I don’t like that because that takes some serious trust. 

The key to this text—the foundation of what God said to Moses—is this statement: “But I will be with you”.  That should be enough shouldn’t it?  Moses asks, “who am I”, to which God responds, “It’s not who you are, Moses, that matters.  What matters is that I AM, and I am going with you.” 

Is it enough for me today that God says, I am with you?  Because in Jesus I have the certain promise, “I am with you always”.  Christ has not left us as orphans—through His Spirit, He is now with us always.  Is that enough?  Is God’s presence enough for me today or do I need a map?

Do I trust God enough for him to say, “You’ll know when you get there”?