Dec 1 2021 Day 242 Malachi 3:1–4:6

For I the LORD do not change


An interesting way to conclude what we consider the Old Testament, at least for my possibly heretical thoughts about the God of the Old Testament. I have struggled with the smiting, destroying, forgiving, angry, covenant-breaking, first-born-destroying, promise-making God. If God is unchanging, or immutable, is that the God that comes forward in the person of Jesus Christ?

The commentary is from A. W. Tozer, who suggests that of course God cannot change, because of the very nature of change. A person changes 1) for the better, 2) for the worse 3) as a part of their inherent nature, like a child changes into an adult, or a caterpillar changes into a butterfly. Tozer suggests that God, always perfect, wouldn’t change from better to worse or vice versa, and that God’s nature is perfect so God doesn’t need to change from one form to another.

I wholly agree that God wouldn’t change from better to worse, or get better over time. God was perfect in the Hebrew Scriptures. I believe there is some document heresy about God’s form changing, that God the Son is somehow different than God the Father. Perhaps it’s because perfection is perfection is perfection. It’s a constant state, beyond our understanding. I’m way out of my theological depths now, so I’ll stop.

If Malachi’s prophecy and words from God are truly words from God, and Tozer is correct, God does not change. And if that’s true, I’m left with another way to understand Hebrew Scripture.

All of the Scriptures were written by humans. Some were recounting what they observed, some recounting what they were told by others, and still others were recounting what they understand God told them. I’ve heard that every time we recall a memory, we actually write over the part of our brain’s hard drive that stores that memory, with new information. When we go back to recall that memory again, it includes parts of the story that we modified in its last telling. Eventually our memories can be very vivid, very real, and very different than the actual original event.

As a people of oral history, I’m certain this happened to the writers of the Hebrew Scripture. Memories changed, parts were added and deleted – not intentionally, but just as the nature of recalling memories and telling stories. I also suspect that a people of the exodus and exile, there was a lot of anger and frustration about their understanding of God’s protection of them. The psalms accurately reflect a lot of fist waving at God.

Do I believe God offers judgment? Absolutely. Do I believe God does things to hurt people? I don’t think I do. Rather, I think bad things happen in this world, some of our own doing and some of other people’s doing. God does not always intervene, although sometimes God does intervene. When there’s no heavenly intervention, God is still with us, God still loves us, and we will come through the trial with God by our side. Perhaps there’s something to learn, or restore, or forgive, embedded in the trial. God can let bad things happen, but God doesn’t cause them. When God intervenes, I don’t believe it’s a function of the loudness or frequency of our prayers, the importance of the pray-er, or the scale of the problem. In my tradition, every church, every Sunday prays for the nation and its leaders. I don’t believe that President Biden is favored by God any more than the recipient of one person’s prayers.

As I wrap up the walk through the Old Testament, I’m struck by my conflicted thoughts about the God of the Old Testament. My growing edge and the place I need to keep praying and thinking, is about a God which is smiting, destroying, forgiving, angry, covenant-breaking, first-born-destroying, promise-making God. I’m not sure what I do believe, other than God is love, and that’s the lens through which I will always read scripture.