God's Immutability

“Many of them are awash in messy lives, as I was, but they illogically and absurdly blame God for the mess, even though it’s traceable directly to decisions they have made.” - Olinger

“God is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it?” - Olinger

“He is never between a rock and a hard place. His holdings are never decreased by the advance of enemy armies. He is not moved; he is not threatened; he is not set back; he is not frustrated in any of his purposes.” - Olinger

“…we’re incomplete, undeveloped, short of our potential. We have things to learn. We can always get better at something…. One reason that God doesn’t change is that he doesn’t need any of what we’ve just described. He doesn’t need to grow; he doesn’t need to mature; he doesn’t need to get better at anything.” - Olinger

“A lot of people are bewildered, scared, frustrated about all this change… The Scripture doesn’t ignore this problem, and it doesn’t try to ‘pep talk’ us out of our distress with platitudes. But it does offer two truths that can stabilize us despite the instability of our world.” - Olinger

“None of us like having the very ground shift under our feet. Our day-to-day life, perhaps a way of life that we have had for years, has in a matter of months been completely turned upside down. How do we, as God’s people, react to such uncertainty? In the midst of fear and frustration, how can we exhibit to the world people who are fundamentally different?” - James Williams