This much debated question comes down to a look at who God is and what God has done as recorded in the Bible.  The attributes of God alone would take an opus to expound upon and are often described in the names by which He is mentioned in scripture.  To name just a few He is Elohim  the Creator; El Elyon The God Most High; El Olam  The Everlasting God; El Shaddai  God Almighty; Jehovah-Jirah The Lord our Provider; Jehovah-Saboath The Lord of Hosts; Jesus The Lord saves;  Messiah The Anointed One, and many more.  In addition,  1 John  4:16 tells us that “God is love and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God abides in Him.” So, God is also love.

But the two attributes most germane to the discussion of whether or not prayer changes God’s mind are the attributes we find in Malachi 3:6 in which God says, “I the Lord do not change.” and Hebrews 6:18 in which Paul, speaking of God’s promise to Abraham states “it is impossible for God to lie.”

 God’s unchanging nature is also emphasized in verses like.  James 1:17 where we read God is one “ who does not change like shifting shadows.”Psalm 102:25-27 which says of God “but you are the same, and your years have no end,” and Hebrews 13:8  where we are reminded that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.”

Likewise, a number of scriptures speak of God’s inability to lie.  We can begin with the most rudimentary one logically.  In the first chapter of John’s epistle, he clearly lays out the divinity of Jesus when he begins in verses 1-4:  

“ In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.In him was life; and the life was the light of men.”

Then he clarifies his point as he continues in verses 14 and 17:

“ And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth. . . .  For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.”

Then by logic, how can TRUTH, which is Jesus Christ (GOD), lie?  It cannot.  Thus, God cannot lie.  It is impossible for Him not to tell the truth because He is the TRUTH embodied.

Numerous other scriptures also assure us that God cannot lie and does not lie. Among them are the following: 

  • Titus1:2 “God, who cannot lie”
  • Hebrews 6:18 “it was impossible for God to lie
  • John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life”
  • Psalm 119:160 “Thy word is true from the beginning”
  • 1 Samuel 15:29 “And also the Strength of Israel will not lie“
  • Psalm 119:89 “Forever, O Lord, your word is firmly fixed in the heavens.”
  • John 17:17.  “your word is truth.”

So, let’s consider a situation in the Bible where God’s immutability (never-changing nature) and his inability to lie might, according to some, come into conflict.  Here is the scene:

            Moses has been up on Mt. Sinai communing with God and receiving the Ten Commandments.  The Israelites have been down below, watching the thunder, the lightning, the clouds, and wondering what was happening to Moses who still hasn’t returned.  They start to feel rudderless.  Granted they still have Aaron, Moses’ brother, but he doesn’t have quite the leadership qualities that Moses, the chosen one of God, has, even though he is more comfortable speaking to a crowd. Neither, sadly, does he have his brother Moses’ wisdom.  So when the worried and restless Israelites come to him and say that without Moses, whom for all they know is lying dead somewhere on the mountain, they have no god to worship, Aaron is at a loss.  What can he say?  Of course, you still have a God.  Moses will be back!  Be patient!  But they aren’t patient!  They are an unruly, unhappy restless mob and finally Aaron gives in to them.  After all, what can it matter.  They bring him all their golden jewelry to melt down, and they fashion a golden calf which they set up and say “There!”  This will represent our god! We will worship this!” 

            Moses meanwhile was making his way down the mountain side, and as he reached the bottom and started towards the Israelite camp God stopped him and told him what the Israelites had done.  Moses could hardly believe it!  How could they?  How could Aaron have let them?  Then God dropped the news.  He told Moses that he was going to destroy all of the Israelties for their sin and create a new race of people for himself out of Moses!  Now, faced with an angry God, many men would have simply been relieved that their own life was to be spared and rather proud that they were to become the “father” of a new nation, even if their own brother and sister and friends were going to die.  But not Moses!  He pleaded with God to spare the Israelites.  To forgive them for their sin.  To give them another chance.  He reminded God of his promise to Abraham, perhaps suggesting that to create a new nation through Moses would take some of the honor from Abraham as the father of the Israelite nation, which was, after all, named after a grandson of Abraham.  And following Moses’ eloquent prayer, we read these words in Exodus 32:14:

            “ And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.”

            So, God did not destroy the people. But Moses destroyed the golden calf, called the men of the tribe of Levi to his side, and they killed three thousand of the leaders of the religious revolt in the camp.  God’s justice was meted out.

            God determined to destroy the Israelites, but Moses prayed.  And God did not do what He had told Moses He was going to do after all.  So did God change His mind as a result of Moses’ prayer?  Does prayer change God’s mind?

            Numbers 23:19 in the King James version of the Bible further confuses the case when it reads: “God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”  

Yet Exodus 32:14 clearly says that God “repented of the evil which he thought to do.”  Thus, the scriptures here seem to contradict each other.  The NIV and ESV translate the phrase “that He should repent” as “that He should change His mind” setting up the argument that God is not like men who lie and change their minds, yet here He seems to have done either one or the other.  

            If God, as some would argue, never intended to destroy the Israelites at all, but rather wished to impel Moses both to defend them vigorously to God and then to deal justly and quickly with the evil and sin within the camp, then God flat out lied to Moses when He told him: “I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people:Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation”(Exodus 32:99-10).  

            Yet, God cannot lie! Therefore, as Sir Arthur Conan Doyle proposed, “ Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth.”

And it is not improbable that God changed His mind as a result of prayer, but rather, most probable.  Let’s look at another example:

In 2 Kings chapter 20 we read that King Hezekiah became ill and God sent the prophet Isaiah with these words for the king in verse 1: “Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order; for thou shalt die, and not live.”

  The moment that Isaiah left, Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to God, asking him to heal him and to let him live.  In verses 5 and 6 we read the following:

  • 2 Kings 20: 4-6 “ And it came to pass, afore Isaiah was gone out into the middle court, that the word of the Lord came to him, saying,  Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the Lord, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the Lord. I will add fifteen years to your life, and I will rescue you and this city from the king of Assyria. I will defend this city for my own honor and for the sake of my servant David.’”

            So, first God clearly tells King Hezekiah that he is going to die.  Then Hezekiah prays and asks God to heal him.  And God immediately reverses course and tells Hezekiah that He will heal him and give him fifteen more years to live. It certainly looks like prayer changed God’s mind, doesn’t it?  Or, if He never intended for Hezekiah to die, and in the case of the Israelites, never intended to wipe them out, He, who cannot lie, must have lied in both cases.  Which is it?  

It is neither!  The problem lies in the misunderstanding of God’s unchanging nature.  God is, without doubt unchanging in His fundamental nature:  He will always be both a God of love and mercy to His children, and yet a God of justice to the evil ones who deny and defy Him. 

He has always existed and will always exist, as difficult as that is for our minds to comprehend. 

He is all powerful, having created (and continuing to create) space, the sun, the earth and all living things; all knowing, all seeing. And somehow, He is everywhere at once, a Spirit who knows no bounds. 

He has a wonderfully creative mind and a great sense of humor as depicted in the numerous animals he created from the aardvark, the giraffe, the anteater, and the lemming, to some you have never heard of like the giant isopod, a sort of cross between a turtle and a crab, which lives on the floor of the ocean, and the aye-aye, a wild-eyed primate with large ears that chews into trees to find and eat bugs.

      These attributes of God’s nature and others do not change.  Nor does His basic plan for the creation of mankind.  He intended us to be sentient, intelligent creatures with whom He could enjoy a mutual loving relationship, but one in which we loved Him out of choice rather out of necessity.  He wanted us to chooseto love and obey Him. 

But for that to happen, He had to create man with free will, with the ability to make choices, to choose right from wrong and then to act upon those choices.  Thus, He placed the tree of the knowledge of good and evil in the Garden of Eden and forbade Adam and Eve to eat from it.  Satan, taking the form of a serpent, convinced Eve to try the fruit, and she persuaded Adam. And the rest is history.

            Did God know what would happen.  Yes.  He is also omniscient, all-knowing.  He knew that Adam and Eve, and billions upon billions of others after them, would choose to disobey Him.  But He knew as well, that countless numbers of them would repent and return to Him and that others would come to know Him as their God through the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.  He had it all planned out from the beginning.  But. . . each individual man, woman, and child still has free will to make his or her own choice.  Thus, while Romans 6:23 tells us “ For the wages of sin is death;”  it continues  “but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”   God has condemned each sinner to death, but the moment that sinner prays and confesses his sin, accepting Jesus as his savior, God forgives the sin as if it had never been and revokes the death penalty.  HE CHANGES HIS MIND.

God is unchanging in his nature, but changing in His actions towards His people in response to their prayers.  What God is not, is a liar.  Thus, we need to look at some caveats about our prayers if we wish them to be answered.

  • We must first of all be sure that our prayers are in the will of God, that is, that we are praying for things which are not contrary to Scripture nor simply to gratify our own wants and desires. (James 4:3, 1 John 5:14, Luke 11:2, John 15:7).  
  • Next, we must come to God in Jesus’ name, confidently and in faith, believing that He hears and will answer our prayers. (Hebrews4:16, Mark 11:24, John 16:23, Matthew 21:22, 1 John 5:15, James 5:15, Luke 11:9-10). 
  • Then, we must remember that sometime the time is not yet right for God to give us what we ask for, and so we must, like the persistent widow in the parable, continue to pray. (Luke 18:1-8, Luke 11:5-10, 1 Thessalonians 5:17, Colossians 1:9).
  • Finally, we must remember that God’s answers may be “yes,” “wait awhile” and “no.” 

Because scriptures tell us that God will give us what we ask for when we pray, we tend not 

to accept a “no” answer.  We want to argue with God, worry that our faith was insufficient, grow angry with God, perhaps even lose our faith in Him all together.  But we should remember that God is far wiser then we are and while we can only see the present and imagine how we want the future to be, He knows exactly what is and what will be.  He knows when our requests do not fit into His plan for our lives or for the lives of those for whom we are praying.  He knows when we are asking for something that would not be good for us or for others. 

An answer of “no” may seem like a catastrophe, even cruel and uncaring to us, but to God it is the only good choice in that situation. Israel wanted a king to rule them.  God knew it was not a good idea for them.  Yet, this time, He gave them what they wanted.  As a result, Israel became the divided nation of Israel and Judah who were rife with intrigues, assassinations, betrayal, idolatry, fighting between each other and eventual captivity for both kingdoms.  Things had been better with God as their King!

Remember that even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, prayed, “not my will, but Thine, be done.”  As long as we remember to include this, and to mean this, we will continue to see answers to our faithful prayers as long as they are within the Plan and Will of God.  

His promises to us are as unchanging as is His nature and He cannot lie.

     But, yes, God often changes His mind when His people pray!