In my journey of life, I have met couples who started off their relationships with ‘God told me’ or ‘God approved’, but whose relationship didn’t last a minute.
I am forced to ask ‘does God change his mind?’ There are scriptures these people often use to justify their actions. One told me that God selected Saul as king and then rejected him after he disobeyed. This story is found in 1 Samuel 15:11a ‘“I regret that I have made Saul king, because he has turned away from me and has not carried out my instructions’. This scripture paints a picture of a God who makes His decisions based on the character of people. Another scripture that people use to justify their actions is in Genesis 6: 5-7 ‘Then the LORD saw that the wickedness of man was great upon the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was altogether evil all the time. 6And the LORD regretted that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. 7So the LORD said, “I will blot out man, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—every man and beast and crawling creature and bird of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them.”
To answer the question, we need to understand the personality of the God we are talking about. He is sovereign. This means that He has the absolute power. Psalm 115:3 ‘”Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases,”. Ephesians 1:11 ‘”God ‘who works all things according to the counsel of his will'”. He is also a God that knows the end from the beginning. Isiah 46: 9-11 ‘Remember what happened long ago, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me. 10I declare the end from the beginning, and ancient times from what is still to come. I say, ‘My purpose will stand, and all My good pleasure I will accomplish.’ 11I summon a bird of prey from the east, a man for My purpose from a far-off land. Truly I have spoken, and truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, and I will surely do it.…
Bearing these scriptures that describe some qualities of God in mind, let’s go back to the story of Saul. Saul was the first king of Israel. Israel had complained to God through the prophet Samuel that they wanted a king. But God didn’t want them to have any king aside from Him. 1 Samuel 8: 6-7 ‘But when they said, “Give us a king to lead us,” this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: “Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king. This means that it was not God’s original plan to give them a king. They wanted one and God came down to their level. Could it be that since people do not listen to God’s choice, He lets them have their way? On the second scripture that said that God repented from making man, we read that before the foundations of the earth, the lamb was slaughtered – Revelation 13:8b. This shows a God who already made provisions for the fall of man and demonstrates Him as all knowing. This helps to illustrate that God makes provisions for the weaknesses of man. This might mean that, God perhaps wasn’t the one that chose the spouse.
Here’s a bigger picture. they are others who face difficulties with the person God has asked them to marry. In fact, it is because of those difficulties on the way that makes Him give instructions before hand so that the individual can endure. Mark 13:23 ‘So be on your guard; I have told you everything in advance’. John 13:19 ‘I am telling you now before it happens, so that when it comes to pass, you will believe that I am He’. The devil tries to steal every word from God. God has warned us from the beginning so that we can be on guard. But the most important reason, is that our trust in God would be tried. If God has connected you to someone and you face challenges, it is for your majority.
What do you think?
