“I’m so stressed out and exhausted.”
“The continual challenges and changes overwhelm me.”
“The many voices conflict, arguing for their own opinions. Who do I believe and trust anymore?”
“The pictures, videos, and clanging words in this world make me feel it’s all sinking sand.”
“Changing minds, changing plans, changing trials, changing answers bring upheaval in my heart and mind. I can’t take much more of this!”
Where do we turn? To our great and unchanging God as He reveals Himself to be, in His Word.
Let’s praise Him together, in this week’s “praise interruption!”
Great God, how infinite art thou!
How poor and weak are we!
(“Great God! How Infinite Art Thou!”, Watts, I., Public Domain)
“Thou changest not,” Lord!
God tells us that His throne “is forever and ever, He is “the same,” and His “years will have no end” (Heb. 1:8a, 12b). The Lord is immutable, through all of history as we perceive it and in all of His attributes.
Psalm 100:5 refers to His character (goodness, steadfast love, faithfulness) as one that “endures forever…to all generations.”
All?
That means you and me.
Today!
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father; there is no shadow of turning with thee!
(“Great is Thy Faithfulness,” Chisholm, T. O., 1923)
You were the same, yesterday
Let’s consider yesterday, in the past. Remembering that Jesus is the image of God, God Himself (Col. 1:15), we see the character of God in the words and actions of Jesus. It’s amazing to study the gospels and experience the Lord there.
But if our Lord is the same always, the God of the Old Testament is the same in essence as the God of the New. The entire Bible is one glorious kingdom story of our unchanging God creating perfection, redeeming fallen people whose sin destroyed perfection, and one day, restoring all things to perfection. Who He is…becomes what He does!
In all of God’s actions, His ways are unchanging…because He is unchanging.
thou changest not, thy compassions,
they fail not;
as thou hast been thou forever wilt be.
You will be the same, in all of this earth’s “tomorrows” and forever
Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look at the earth beneath; for the heavens vanish like smoke, the earth will wear out like a garment, and they who dwell in it will die in like manner, but my salvation will be forever, and my righteousness will never be dismayed (Is. 51:6 ESV).
Eternity, with all its years,
Stands present in thy view;
To thee there’s nothing old appears;
To thee there’s nothing new.
Of old you laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of your hands.
they will perish, but you will remain; they will all wear out like a garment. You will change them like a robe, and they will pass away,
but you are the same, and your years have no end. The children of your servants shall dwell secure; their offspring shall be established before you (Ps. 102:25-28 ESV).
So, You are the same right now, in my today, Lord
If our unchanging God has become our intimate Father through Christ, if we are “in Christ,” His indwelling Spirit is continually at work in our lives to make us more and more like Jesus (1 Thess. 5:23).
So His unchanging attributes revealed to us in His Word, become anchors for our souls, as we suffer.
From the beginning to the end of all time and history as we know it, “the counsel of the LORD stands forever, the plans of his heart to all generations” (Ps. 33:11, emphasis added). James comforts us not to believe the lies that God is somehow changing when we suffer: “There is no variation or shadow due to change” with our “Father of lights” (1:17).
Beloved in Christ, our God is the same…even in the suffering we’re experiencing today. Remembering our unchanging God has brought me much comfort into a very hard week. Let’s go back to Hebrews 1 for a moment. Do you see? This is our Savior, Jesus!
Let the whole race of creatures bow,
And pay their praise to thee!
God, You will be the same, in my tomorrow
So tomorrow?
We can believe and hope in God’s eternal promises for tomorrow, resting in His unchanging character.
We can trust that His plan for His redeemed children won’t change (Heb. 6:13-20).
As we suffer, we can rest in the kingdom plan of our Lord and King…for us personally.
But he is unchangeable, and who can turn him back? What he desires, that he does. For he will complete what he appoints for me, and many such things are in his mind (Job 23:13-14, emphasis added).
Summer and winter and springtime and harvest.
sun, moon, and stars in their courses above.
join with all nature in manifold witness
to thy great faithfulness, mercy, and love.
Material adapted from Near to God: A Devotional Bible Study of God’s Character in Our Suffering, Lauri A. Hogle. Copyright © 2022, Singing Christ’s Hope.
Praising our unchanging God, fueling our trust in God
A new subscriber friend recently told me that she sees the ministry of Singing Christ’s Hope as something to help us keep our minds stayed on the Lord (Is. 26:3), but also that it also helps her to resist the temptation to sin. Glory to our great God! Yes, I do think that as we worship and “fear” our triune God with reverent awe of who He is, remembering and trusting in who He is, we are indeed fighting our ongoing battle against sin, by His grace. God’s Word is our offensive battle weapon, according to Ephesians 6!
So this week?
I’ve created the playlist gift to be filled with hymns and Scriptural songs, many of those singing actual Scripture itself, to help us praise our unchanging God for His unchanging essence and character! As we suffer right now, I’m praying the music will be God’s gracious gift to each of us to fuel our faith this week and help us walk in His way, glorifying and enjoying Him. If you’d like the songs, sign up here and it will come to your email with my prayer for you!
