Interesting subject.
No he doesn't.
Pastor Bridgette brought up a great point in her sermon Sunday on the potter and the wheel.
Jeremiah 18:1-12
At the Potter’s House
This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.
Then the word of the Lord came to me. He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, Israel. If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
“Now therefore say to the people of Judah and those living in Jerusalem, ‘This is what the Lord says: Look! I am preparing a disaster for you and devising a plan against you. So turn from your evil ways, each one of you, and reform your ways and your actions.’ But they will reply, ‘It’s no use. We will continue with our own plans; we will all follow the stubbornness of our evil hearts.’”
The clay was "marred". Funny that the last time I went to bible study at Central Baptist this is a passage that a good deal of time was spent on. The clay was marred, spoiled, lost its elasticity etc...The potter didn't do anything wrong and he went right ahead and did what he was going to do which was turn the clay into something else. He still accomplished his aim, he still made the clay into something he wanted, just not what he had originally intended because of the 'brokenness' of the clay as it were, the unwillingness to accept what the potter was trying to do with it.
So...all that being said...
"There are two important considerations involving the passages that say God changed His mind. First, we can say statements such as “the LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth” (Genesis 6:6) are examples of anthropopathism (or anthropopatheia). Anthropopathism is a figure of speech in which the feelings or thought processes of finite humanity are ascribed to the infinite God. It’s a way to help us understand God’s work from a human perspective. In Genesis 6:6 specifically, we understand God’s sorrow over man’s sin. God obviously did not reverse His decision to create man. The fact that we are alive today is proof that God did not “change His mind” about the creation."
"Second, we must make a distinction between conditional declarations of God and unconditional determinations of God. In other words, when God said, “I will destroy Nineveh in forty days,” He was speaking conditionally upon the Assyrians’ response. We know this because the Assyrians repented and God did not, in fact, mete out the judgment. God did not change His mind; rather, His message to Nineveh was a warning meant to provoke repentance, and His warning was successful."
It's the same with the potter and the clay. He made something out of it as he intended, just not what he had set out to initially because of the clays free will, brokenness, unwillingness, (the clay is us and the potter is God BTW) to go along with the plan etc.
There's also a few verses in one of my favorite chapters of the bible that alludes to "God's relenting" that the above article doesn't mention:
Joel 2:12-14
Rend Your Heart
“Even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
Rend your heart
and not your garments.
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and compassionate,
slow to anger and abounding in love,
and he relents from sending calamity.
Who knows? He may turn and relent
and leave behind a blessing—
grain offerings and drink offerings
for the Lord your God.
(Almost seems like the author knew a thing or two about Jonah doesn't it? I'll let the scholars figure that out :-)
The point is simple, conditional or unconditional declarations of God?
Do not change his intent.
"Malachi 3:6 declares, “I the LORD do not change. So you, O descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed.”...James 1:17 tells us, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.” Numbers 23:19 is clear: “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and then not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?” Based on these verses, no, God does not change. God is unchanging and unchangeable. He is also all-wise."
Okay so where are you going with all of this?
Glad you asked :-).
Lets go here:
If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.
Goes right along with what were talking about right?
So lets just consider this for a moment:
"Child poverty (in the US) saw a small decline (0.3 percentage points) from 17.0 percent in January to 16.7 percent in February 2022."
"On many measures, and compared to other OECD countries, the United States could do more to promote child well-being. Children in the United States enjoy some of the highest average levels of disposable income in the OECD, but high income inequality also means that child relative income poverty rates are very high – around 20% of children in the U.S. live in relative income poverty, compared to just over 13%, on average across OECD countries. Infant health outcomes are poor. The infant mortality rates is higher in the U.S. than in most other OECD countries (5.8 deaths per 1000 live births, compared to an OECD average of 3.9), as to a slightly lesser extent is the rate of lowweight births (8.1%, versus an OECD average of 6.5%).
How does UNITED STATES compare on child well-being?
Just on and on and on if you are willing to dig for the information.
And now lets consider this:
"If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it.'
Much indebted for this piece BTW:
I love you baby :-).
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