One of blessings of studying the Doctrines of God is that his holiness becomes very clear in comparison to the nature of man. God’s unchanging inner emotional state, his lack of passion, seems odd to us since our emotions change often, but at the same time it should lift our spirits. Through this we are reminded that God cannot love us more than he already does and his love never weakens. Similarly, the simplicity of God, or the fact that he is not composed of parts, is foundational to his eternality in stark contrast with our mortality. God does not change with time because he cannot be divided into past, present and future.

Hallelujah! We are putting our hope in an eternally loving God who cannot change. So what then are we to make of scriptures that suggest God can change his mind? If God can repent that he made man (Genesis 6:6-7) what else can he decide to repent from? Can he decide to repent from the mercy and love toward us as well? Can he repent from the saving faith that he given to you? Thankfully the inspired writers dealt with this apparent contradiction. In 1 Samuel 15, within a span of less than 20 verses, the author of the book tells us two completely opposite things about God. God regrets making Saul king while at the same time, in fact, God does not have regret at all.

1 Samuel 15:10-11: The word of the Lord came to Samuel:“I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments.” 

1 Samuel 15:29: the Glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man, that he should have regret.”

David was always the King God intended to establish because Christ, the greater son of David, is the King that God has established.

While Saul appears at first to be a good king he later revealed himself to be foolish, rash, and disobedient which culminated in God rejecting Saul as king of Israel. So it appears that God is changing his mind about Saul. However, the prophet Samuel points us to another possible answer. Perhaps God has not made Saul king at all! His argument for God not repenting or lying is simple and clear. God is not a man. God’s ways and man’s ways are so different that we are challenged to go back and re-read the book to examine how God’s ultimate plan differs from what is happening with man.

It appears that Hannah is the lesser of two wives and not part of God’s plan. She is mocked because God has closed her womb but in fact God would eventually have her give birth to the prophet Samuel (1 Samuel 1).

It appears that Eli and his sons are escaping the judgment they deserve from abusing their position as priests but in fact God brings about judgment against them in his perfect timing (1 Samuel 4).

It appears that the Philistines have overcome the Lord and his people by defeating them in battle and taking the ark of the covenant. In fact their military “victory” has brought affliction to their people and their false idol from God himself and would ultimately result in them making sacrifices to the God of Israel (1 Samuel 4-6).