“Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can
deliver out of my hand: I will work, and who shall let it?”
(Isaiah 43:13)
Before time, before any creature, the everlasting immutable God is. Not was, as someone who has passed, nor will be, as someone who is not yet—but He is I am. The Triune God is the same from eternity to eternity, without beginning, without increase, without change.
From this truth flows the immutability of His will. God does not learn, reconsider, or revise. His will is not a faculty that moves within Him as in man, but is an outworking of who He is. What He knows, He has always known. What He wills, He has always willed. There is no afterthought in God, no correction, no adjustment. His counsel is one, singular, eternal act.
This makes His purpose irresistible. “I will work, and who shall let it?” No creature can stay His hand. No opposition can hinder His design. What He ordains stands. What He decrees comes to pass. The greatest powers of earth, the most determined resistance, the most subtle contrivances of men or devils—all fall beneath His will as nothing.
We behold and adore a God who cannot be overruled, cannot be surprised, cannot be thwarted. His purposes are not exposed to uncertainty, nor His actions to failure. He does not attempt; He accomplishes. He does not begin and leave unfinished; He completes.
Men change because they lack foresight, or because they discover error, or because they are unable to execute what they intended. None of this can be said of God. He foresees all, knows all, wills all with perfect wisdom, and executes all with infinite power. There is no cause for change in Him, because there is no defect in Him.[1]
This truth is the assurance of our faith. If God’s will could change, nothing would be secure. If His purpose could fail, nothing would stand. But because He is immutable, His promises are certain, His covenant sure, and His work in His people unbreakable.
Thus we worship and adore not only the greatness of our God, but the fixed certainty of all that He is and does. The same God who purposed salvation from eternity will bring it to completion in His time. The same will that ordained grace will carry it through to glory.
Contemplations:
- Adoring God’s Eternal Being Above Time. Lord, You are before all things, existing without beginning and without succession. Time does not shape You, nor does it alter You. All ages pass beneath Your gaze, yet You remain unchanged. This anchors my faith in what is eternal. Let my heart learn to rest in Your constant being, which neither rises nor declines, but simply is.
- Adoring the Immutability of God’s Will. Your will does not change like mine does. You do not reconsider, regret, or adjust Your purposes. What You have determined stands because it is perfect. All Your intentions are wise from the beginning and remain so without alteration. Help me learn to stop resisting and instead to simply submit to what You have ordained, knowing it cannot be improved or overturned.
- Adoring God’s Irresistible Power in All His Works. When You act, nothing can hinder. No created force can restrain Your hand or delay Your purpose. Opposition may come, but it cannot prevail. You do not struggle to accomplish Your will; You speak, and it is done. Let this truth quiet every fear that looks at circumstances as though they were stronger than Your decree.
- Adoring the Unity and Perfection of God’s Counsel. Your purposes are not divided or uncertain. What appears to us as many events is, in truth, the unfolding of Your unified, perfect counsel. Nothing is isolated, nothing is accidental, nothing is disconnected. All flows from Your eternal will. Help me see life not as random occurrences but as a unified whole, ordered by Your perfect design, and let this draw my heart to deeper reverence and trust.
Prayer (Adoration)
Eternal and unchangeable God, Your being is beyond all measure. Before anything was, You are. All things depend on You, yet You depend on none. There is no variation in You, no shadow of turning, no movement from what You have always been.
Your counsel is settled and sure. What You have willed from eternity comes to pass in time without failure or delay. No force can hinder You, no resistance can overturn You, no event can surprise You. You accomplish all Your purpose with quiet authority and perfect strength.
Your knowledge does not increase, nor does Your understanding deepen, for all things are known to You at once. What men learn, You have always known. What men attempt, You have already purposed.
Let every proud thought be brought low before this truth. Let every anxious fear be silenced by it. Establish my heart in the certainty that nothing falls outside Your will, and nothing escapes Your hand. And that what You have begun will stand and what You have spoken will be fulfilled.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Further Scripture References for Isa. 43:13:
Ps. 90:2; Deut. 32:39; Job 9:12; Isa. 14:27
[1] Stephen Charnock, The Complete Works of Stephen Charnock, vol. 1 (Edinburgh; London; Dublin: James Nichol; James Nisbet and Co.; W. Robertson; G. Herbert, 1864-1866), 387-388.
