© Karen Power

Mal 3:6-7 "For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. "From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts. "But you say, 'How shall we return ?'

I am God, I change not." Here I want to attempt to enlarge this thought, God is Jehovah, and he changes not in his essence. I do not know what substance that is which we call God. It is an existence, it is a being; but what that is, we know not. However, whatever it is, we call it his essence, and that essence never changes.

The substance of mortal things is always changing. The mountains with their snow-white crowns, shed their crowns in the summer, into rivers of water trickling down their sides, while the storm cloud gives them another crown; the ocean, with its mighty floods, loses its water when the sunbeams kiss the waves, and snatch them in mists to heaven; even the sun itself requires fresh fuel from the hand of the Infinite Almighty, to replenish Its ever burning furnace. All creatures change. Man, especially as to his body, is always undergoing revolution. Very probably there is not a single particle in my body which was in it a few years ago.

Whatever the attributes of God were of old, that they are now; and of each of them we may say "As it was in the beginning, It is now, and ever shall be, world without end, Amen." Was he powerful? Was he the mighty God when he spoke the world out of the womb of nonexistence? Was he the Omnipotent when he piled the mountains and scooped out the hollow places from the deep? Yes, he was powerful then, and his arm is not shaking now, he is the same giant in his might; the sap of his nourishment is undried, and the strength of his soul stands the same for ever. Was he wise when he made this mighty world, when he laid the foundations of the universe? Did he have wisdom when he planned the way of our salvation, and when from all eternity he marked out his awesome plans? Yes, and he is wise now; he is not less skillful, he does not have less knowledge; his eye which see's all things is undimmed; his ear which hears all the cries, sighs, sobs, and groans of his people, has not become heavy by the years which he has heard their prayers. He is unchanged in his wisdom, he knows as much now as ever, neither more nor less; he has the same Almighty skill, and the same infinite forecasting. He is unchanged, Praise His Holy Name, in his justice. just and holy was he in the past; just and holy is he now. He is unchanged in his truth; he has promised, and he brings it to pass; he has said it, and it shall be done. He does vary not in the goodness, and generosity, and benevolence of his nature. He is not become an Almighty tyrant, whereas he was once an Almighty Father; but his strong love stands like a granite rock, unmoved by the hurricanes of our sins. And blessed be his wonderful name, he is unchanged in his love. When he first wrote the covenant, how full his heart was with love for his people. He knew that his Son must die to ratify the articles of that agreement. He knew right well that he must give to us his best , His only son from his groins, and send him down to earth to bleed and die. He did not hesitate to sign that mighty covenant; nor did he stop its fulfillment. He loves as much now as he did then, and when the sun ceases to shine, and moon to show its soft gleaming light, he still will love on for ever and ever. Take any one attribute of God, and I will write (always the same) on it. Take any one thing you can say of God now, and it may be said not only in the dark past, but in the bright future it shall always remain the same: "I am Jehovah, I change not."

Then again, God does not change his plans. When man began to build, but was not able to finish, and therefore he changed his plan, as every wise man would do in such a case; he built upon a smaller foundation and commenced again. But has it ever been said that God began to build but was not able to finish? NO!. When he has boundless stores at his command, and when his own right hand would create worlds as numerous as drops of morning dew, shall he ever stay because he has no power? and reverse, or alter, or rearrange his plan, because he cannot carry it out? "But," say some, "perhaps God never had a plan." Do you think God is more foolish than yourself then, sir? do you lady? Do you go to work without a plan? "No," say you, "I have always a plan" So has God. Every man and woman has their plan, and God has a plan too. God is a master-mind; he arranged everything in his gigantic intellect long before he did it; and once having settled it, mark you, he never alters it. "This shall be done," saith he, and the iron hand of destiny marks it down, and it is brought to pass. "This is my purpose," and it stands, nor can earth or hell alter it. ye may change your plans, but he shall never, never change his. Then has he told me that his plan is to save me? If so, I am safe.

"My name from the palms of his hands

Eternity will not erase;

Impress'd on his heart it remains,

In marks of indelible grace.

"Trust him, he will ne'er deceive you.

Though you hardly of him deem;

He will never, never leave you,

Nor will let you quite leave him.

'Twixt gleams of joy and clouds of doubt our feelings come and go;

Our daily state is tossed about in ceaseless ebb and flow.

No mood of feeling, form of thought, is constant for a day;

But Thou, O Lord, Thou changest not, the same Thou art alway.Out of the weak, unquiet drift that comes but to depart,

To that pure heaven my spirit lift where Thou unchanging art.

Lay hold of me with Thy strong grasp, let Thine almighty arm

In its embrace my weakness clasp, and I shall fear no harm.Thy purpose of eternal good let me but surely know,

On this I'll lean - let changing mood and feeling come or go

Glad when Thy sunshine fills my soul, nor sad when clouds overcast,

Since Thou within Thy sure control of love dost hold me fast.