Isaiah 38: Does God Change His Mind?

Chapters like Isaiah 38 raise a conundrum.  At first, the prophet appears before King Hezekiah with a message from God: "Set your house in order for you shall die.  You shall not recover."  That sounds pretty definitive, especially coming from a prophet like Isaiah!  However, after Hezekiah turns to God with an earnest prayer, the word from the Lord changes.  Now fifteen years will be added to the king's life!  What gives?  Does God change His mind?

One of the classic attributes of God is that He is changeless.  God does not change like shifting shadows (James 1:17).  "I, the Lord, do not change" (Malachi 3:6).  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever (Hebrews 13:8).  Mainstream theology holds that God does not alter His will or mind.

In spite of this, we find people successfully bargaining with God at several points in the biblical record.  Abraham wrangling God to be merciful to Sodom if enough righteous people could be found.  Moses imploring God to spare the Israelites after their rebellious disobedience.  Hezekiah begging God for a second look at his situation.  In each of these circumstances, God appears to relent and change His mind.

I think a lot hinges on that word "appears."  For an eternal Being that exists outside of time and knows the past, present and future, it doesn't seem to make sense that God could change His mind.  He is timeless and everlasting.  Yet there could be several reasons why God would allow it to seem that He responds differently to changing situations.  He may be eliciting a reaction that He desires to see on our part.  For instance, Abraham to be compassionate, Moses to be sympathetic, Hezekiah to be dependent, etc.

Much like God's "testing" of Abraham with the sacrifice of Isaac, God already knows what the outcome will be.  He already knew the quality of Abraham's faith.  But Abraham and Isaac (and us!) did not.  It only became clear to everyone through the testing process.

So, in one sense, the notion of whether God changes His mind or not is only academic.  At the very least, He allows it to seem that He does.  So we are delivered out of a fatalistic "it will be what it will be and there isn't anything we can do about it" because the truth is there is something we can do about it!  God has already revealed that He will respond to certain characteristics in our hearts.  We would do best to develop them and produce them and live a God-pleasing life.