1 Samuel 15:29

the Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel.

Now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. Thus says the Lord of hosts, I have noted what Amalek did to Israel in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. Now go and strike Amalek. and devote to destruction all they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.

And Saul does this. But Saul and the people spare the king of the Amalekites, and the best of the sheep, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them.

Then, in verse 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.

And Samuel comes to the king and says,

The Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day, and has given it to a neighbor of yours who is better than you.

Verse 29.

And also, the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man that he should have regret.

Samuel ratifies Saul's removal from the throne in verse 29 by a solemn declaration of its being irreversible. The glory of Israel will not lie. He is determined to depose you, and he will not change his purpose. He is not a man that he should regret. There seems to be a problem here. God regrets in verse 11, and God will never regret in verse 29.

Unchanging in his nature and decrees

This apparent contradiction teaches us that God is unchanging in his nature and decrees, and yet he does truly engage with his creation. God is unchanging in his nature and decrees, and yet he does truly engage with his creation. First, God is immutable, which is another way of saying he's unchanging.

He will not lie or have regret.

Immutability is peculiar to God. Even the heavens and earth which he has made are not always the same. But he is the same forever, and only he. God's immutability is our basis for truth. We believe the scriptures are true because their author cannot lie. And so, that which is revealed of him in the scriptures, his attributes and decrees, are also true and unchangeable.

His power is unchanging. His justice is unchanging. His holiness is unchanging. and considering his perfection separately serves particularly to illustrate the glory of God's unchangeableness. He is the same in his power as ever. Though his power has been displayed in creation, providence, and redemption, it is not exhausted, nor in the least diminished. His hand is not shortened, his strength is everlasting, and his power eternal.

His knowledge is the same. It can neither be increased nor lessened. He knows no more than he did from all eternity. He knew as much then as he does now. His goodness is immutable, though so many good and perfect gifts have been bestowed on his creatures. It is still the same in him. He is abundant in it, and it endures continually the same. And so is his grace. He is as gracious and merciful as ever.

His mercy is from everlasting to everlasting to them that fear him. His faithfulness, he never suffers to fail. Even though men believe not, he remains faithful. And the unbelief of men cannot nullify the faithfulness of God. He is glorious in holiness. He is always illustriously the same. There is no unrighteousness in God. He cannot change from holiness to unholiness, from righteousness to unrighteousness. He is the just one that neither can nor will do iniquity.

God is unchangeable in his decrees. There is a purpose for everything and a time for that purpose. God has determined all that ever was, is, or shall be. His decrees are like mountains because of their movableness. They are never frustrated. Whatever plots and schemes, they are of no avail. The counsels of the Lord stand forever.

Also in this verse, it says,

for he is not a man that he should have regret.

Our fickleness influences our view of God. We ascribe to him our fickleness. Men change their minds, are feeble, and cannot affect their purposes. Something happens which we cannot foresee, but that is not so with God. God does not act in fits of rage or passion, but is constant in his character.

He still genuinely engages with his creation

And yet, God is said to regret in verse 11. God tells the prophet Samuel he did exactly what he cannot do, regret. God set Saul upon the throne, but now that Saul has disobeyed, God regrets. So what happened? And this is not the only time scripture states God regretted. In Genesis 6,

the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart

When Israel makes the golden calf, God says to Moses,

I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people. Now therefore, let me alone that my wrath may burn not against them.

But Moses intercedes, and it is said of God.

And the Lord relented from the disaster that he had spoken of bringing on his people.

in Exodus 32. This looks like a fit of rage.

So is our conception of God as unchanging, incorrect? No, he must be immutable. If God should change, then either he must change for the better, and then he was not the best and perfect before, or for worse, and then he is not best now. Neither can we say the perfect communicator, who God is, spoke unclearly here. He is incomprehensible, yet he has seen fit to make himself known and make us with the ability to know him, though he is so transcendent.

How unfit we are to know God particularly in our fallen condition. In verse 11 and 29, God, in the most clear manner, expresses two great truths that our finite minds struggle to hold together. God does not change in his purposes, character, nature, or decree, and yet he still genuinely engages with his creation, with us as his people. Scripture describes this in human terms that we can understand. God uses language drawn from our personal life as it is the most accurate medium for communicating thoughts about Him. He is personal.

When God is said to regret making Saul king, this is not describing a change in God's eternal nature or his eternal decree. The change is not at all in his nature. The change is in the covenant position of the person before him. In this situation, the glory of Israel did not change, Saul did. What looks like a change is the steady radiance of divine holiness meeting a changing human king named Saul.

It looks to us as if God changed his mind, but it was never contrary to his eternal plan and purpose. God may will a change, but not change his will. Again, God may will a change, but not change his will. So does God regret? Yes, that's the tension. In the language of covenant relationship, he expresses real grief and sorrow over sin. Does God change his mind? No, not in the least bit.

He is the same in all his perfections, constant in his intentions, steady to his purpose, unchangeably fixed in all his decrees and resolutions. When God is said to regret in scripture, it denotes only a change of his outward conduct according to his infallible foresight and immutable will.

Divine immutability is expressed and conveyed to us as his people through covenant history relational language. He changes the way of his providential dealings according to the behavior of his creatures without changing his will. When sinners repent, he shows mercy every time. When sinners rebel, he shows justice every time. A right understanding of verse 11 and 29 preserves immutability and covenant relationship. We have an unchanging God who truly engages and relates to his people.

Our relation to him as sons

So, we have Saul, a disobedient servant of the Lord, approach the prophet Samuel and he hears that the Lord has regretted and will make another king in his place. But, Christians, who are we like in this story? We are Saul. As God called Saul to be king, he called us to himself. We did not earn our place just as Saul did not. God ordered King Saul to utterly destroy the Amalekites. Saul was removed from the throne, for he did not perfectly keep the command.

Much more, God has made us his sons, And we know we love him if we keep his commandments. He has also given us orders, and we have been incomplete in our obedience. We have been neglectful of our duties to him, and we have directly disobeyed his commandments. Nothing is so provoking to God as disobedience, setting up our wills in competition with his. And the Lord sees our disobedience in all our sins. When he makes his decision, as he did for Saul, when the word of God comes to us, the Lord does not say, I regret making you my son. The Lord says,

this is a beloved son in whom I am well pleased.

I'll give eternal life to them and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hands.

and this is ratified,

the glory of Israel will not lie or have regret, for he is not a man that he should have regret.

Our relation to him as sons is unchangeable. What God said in verse 11, he will never say about his children. O Christian, from our unchangeable relation to God as heirs with Christ, we can draw infinite comfort.

God is love itself, and his love is as unchangeable as himself, the same yesterday, today, and forever. The fall made no difference in it. Though his special objects of love fell with Adam in his transgression into the depths of sin and misery, but God continued his love and manifested it, sending his son to be the atoning sacrifice for the sins of the elect, and gave a full proof and demonstration of it in the delivery of Christ to death for them. Even while they were yet sinners, out of the great love for which he loves them, he made them alive when they were dead in their trespasses and sins. He looked upon them in all the impurity of their natural state and says to them, live. Jesus did not change his character to save us. He expressed his eternal character to save us.

God's love does not fluctuate

The application of this text for the Christian is first, to be encouraged to believe God's love for you in Christ. And second, to praise God that he is unchangeable and so we can trust in him. So first, believe that God's love does not fluctuate. If you are in Christ, his love does not increase when you perform well. His love does not shrink when you fail. When you sin, He does not love you less. God's love is constant to Christians in trial and prosperity.

Never say, I sinned time and again, and therefore I do not dare to come again unto God. It would be as if I were mocking God. In saying this, you make God out to be fickle. He will not change his mind. When God first saved you, he saw all your future sins as if they were presently committed.

It is God's will that we shall forgive our neighbor 70 times 7, this being required in one day. God, however, is infinitely more long-suffering and benevolent than man. Since, however, this is the case with you, do not allow the fact that you sin repeatedly to keep you from prayer. Rather, come all the more, since you are in need of forgiveness and strength, so that the grace of God may be glorified all the more.

" When discipline from the Lord comes, He has not shifted emotionally from us. We are prone to accuse Him of that, because when we attempt to apply discipline, our emotions get in the way.

But they don't for God. The hidings of God's face from Christians do not prove any change in His love to them, for though He hides His face from them to show His resentment at their sins, to bring them to a sense of them, to humble them before Him, and to cause them to seek His face in favor, yet with great mercies He gathers them again to Himself in the most tender manner, and with loving kindness has mercy on them. Further, trials and afflictions are no evidence of a change in God's affections towards us. Though he may thoroughly chastise us, and, as we may think, severely, yet he deals with us but as children in whom he takes the utmost delight.

Chastisements are rather proofs of sonship than arguments against it. Though he visits our transgressions with a rod, he does not at all take away his lovingkindness in Christ from us. When we feel distant from him, it is not because he is cooled towards us. When discipline comes, it is not because he has become more harsh towards us. When judgment comes down, he has not lost his patience with us. His character remains constant. The difference is the turning of the human heart.

Be encouraged to trust God

Therefore, we as sons of Jacob will never be consumed. God's love to Christ is unchangeable, and he will no more cease loving believers than he will cease loving Christ. Secondly, be encouraged to trust God. The immutability of God provides covenant stability. He is our hope because He does not change. If our salvation depended on our stability, we would lose it weekly, daily, hourly.

The covenant you are in was made with Christ from everlasting and stands fast with Him It is as immovable as a mountain and can never be broken. The blessings of it are sure mercies that flow from sovereign grace and mercy of God, and he never regrets his covenant blessings. Once God has bestowed on Christians covenant mercies such as justification and adoption, They are irreversible and never taken away, such as are blessed with them are always blessed, and it is not in the power of men and devils to reverse the promises of the covenant. What has been said of God's decrees may be said of His covenant promises, that they were made before the world began by God, that cannot lie, who is all-wise, all-knowing, and all-powerful, and faithful to perform them. If God changed, salvation would be unstable, morality would be flexible, promises would be uncertain, the gospel temporary, prayer risky. His love, holiness, promises, and son stands because God does not change.

Turn to Christ in faith

You can build your entire life on him. If you are not a Christian today, your only application is to get an interest in this unchangeable God. Then you are as a mountain immovable in the midst of all changes. How shall I get an interest in this unchangeable God, you may ask?

God's justice is unrelenting. You have sinned against God. We all have. There's an infinite punishment for sin demanded by God's justice. Outside of Christ, you will bear this on your own. Confess that you have sinned against God's law and are in need of a Savior. Turn to Christ in faith, believing that He alone can save you from your sins, and you will be loved with the same love that God has for His Son.

The glory of Israel will not, does not, ever change. Please pray with me. Heavenly Father, we thank you for your word. We pray that you would press the truths of your word deep into our hearts. Please give us faith to believe and help us to turn from sin and wholeheartedly to rely on you. We thank you that you do not change. How marvelous is your love and faithfulness to us. We thank you that we can change and you make us more and more like Christ day by day. Let us live all our days fully knowing that you will not lie or have regret. For you are not a man that you should have regret. In Jesus name, Amen.