What God thinks, happens
By Don Ruhl
If God thinks something, it will happen. Once He decides, there is no reversal. We can pray to Him before He makes that decision and He will consider what we say, even changing what He was going to do. However, once God has made a promise, that is it. This is known as the immutability of God, He is unchanging.
James 1.17 God Is Consistent
Someone said, “Consistency, thou art a jewel!” It is a jewel, because it is not often seen. It is rare in people. With God, we always see it and it never stops, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning” (Jam 1.17).
Man-made and natural light sources vary, because the source of the light blocks light, or it is just inconsistent. Even the sun is not consistent. God is consistent in His essence, His will, and His actions. Nothing changes Him. As He was yesterday, so He will continue to be tomorrow.
Isaiah 14.24–27 The Unstoppable Thoughts of God in Action
Isaiah wrote, “The LORD of hosts has sworn, saying, ‘Surely, as I have thought, so it shall come to pass, And as I have purposed, so it shall stand: That I will break the Assyrian in My land…This is the purpose that is purposed against the whole earth…For the LORD of hosts has purposed, And who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, And who will turn it back?’” (Isa 14.24–27).
- First, the Lord revealed that as He has thought, so shall it happen. If He has a purpose, it shall stand. That pertained not only to Israel and Assyria, but to America.
- Second, He purposed that He would break the Assyrians in God’s land.
- Third, this was what He has purposed against the world Earth. His hand was—and is—stretched out over all the nations. Let any nation oppose righteousness or fight against God’s people in the church, and God will set His purpose against that nation.
- Fourth, He challenged anyone to annul what He had decided or to turn His hand back. Did the prophecy of this passage happen? Yes; where is Assyria today? Assyria, and especially its capital city of Nineveh, existed a long time, for over 2400 years! Being that well-established did not keep them from being annihilated.
Remember what this passage said, for it speaks volumes to Christians, and there is something to which we can cling. Built into this text is a promise for all nations, which includes all nations today, to look at what God did to Assyria and know that He will do the same to any nation. You see, God does not change.
Isaiah 46.8–11 Remembering the Unstoppable Thoughts of God
God wants us to know the power of His thoughts, “Remember this, and show yourselves men…I am God, and there is no other…Declaring the end from the beginning, And from ancient times things that are not yet done, Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, And I will do all My pleasure,’ Calling a bird of prey from the east…Indeed I have spoken it; I will also bring it to pass. I have purposed it; I will also do it” (Isa 46.8–11).
God spoke to Israel, warning them that He would call a nation from the East and use that nation to punish God’s people. He wanted them to remember the former things of old that there was no other God like Him, although Israel and Judah worshiped other gods. None of those other gods could do what Yahweh God of Israel could do, declaring the end from the beginning (v. 10), even declaring things from the distant past about future things not yet done, proclaiming that His counsel would stand and He would do all His pleasure.
He wants the church to remember this passage, because He included it in the Bible and we can know His promises of the future will happen based on our observations of what He did in the past, which is why we need to know the Old Testament.
He would call a bird of prey from the East, Babylon, although so far away in distance and in time, and because He had spoken it, He would bring it to pass, and because He had purposed it, He would do it.
Did it happen? It happened precisely as He prophesied. Babylon, like a bird of prey, swooped down on the holy land, and you know the rest of the story.
God does not change His word. See His unchangeableness in the past and know of His unchangeableness in the future.
What does all this mean for the Christian? God shall bless you when others curse you (Num 23.19, 20). God shall keep His promises to you (Psa 33.11). God shall guide your life (Pro 19.21). God shall not destroy you (Mal 3.6). God shall remember your work and your labor of love (Heb 6.9–20).
What does all this mean for non-Christians? They do not experience these blessings now and they will not in eternity. However, what this all means for the non-Christian is this also. Your eternal destiny is not sealed yet. If you turn away from a sinful life and life for Jesus, God promises that He will forgive your sins. Then you have all the good things I have shown you for Christians.
Do you believe with all your heart that Jesus is the Son of God? Are you willing to verbalize that? Are you wanting to change your life? Have you been baptized to have your sins forgiven?
The Bible Meditator 
Hmmm… you say, “If God thinks something, it will happen. Once He decides, there is no reversal.” Yet I distinctly remember reading that Moses interceded for the people and God did not follow through with what he said he was going to do.Deuteronomy 9 and Exodus 32 are a couple of examples.
Karl,
You are correct.
What do you think of the sentence that I wrote two sentences after the one you are questioning, in which I said, “We can pray to Him before He makes that decision and He will consider what we say, even changing what He was going to do”?
Don
I’m sorry, Don, but from what I read it sounded to me like God had already made the decision and after Moses interceded then God “relented”.
I won’t trouble you any further.
Karl,
You are not troubling me at all.
Generally, when God makes a decision, it happens, but there are times when He changes what He was going to do based on the prayers of the saints.
However, it also seems to be the case, that once He has made the decision for something to be, then it shall be, such as when He decided to send Babylon against Judah. The decision could be delayed, and it was during the days of Josiah, nevertheless, it was only a delay because the reign of Manasseh had plunged Judah into sin of such a nature, that God had to punish them.
The point that I was making is that God is not feeble, making promises and then not backing them up.
Don
The writer s clear on this, he said if God thinks something but u r referring to Moses. Moses was not God but only a messenger. God could decide to take his thots n could also abandoned t.
Hosanna Ekop, Be sure to read the whole article. Numbers 23.19 says, “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? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”
Therefore, it must be that in the cases where man intercedes by prayer, that God has left open His options. Just read my first paragraph, and you will see the point that I am making, unless you desire to take my comments out of context.
Don,
The unstoppable thoughts of God puts each of us on the Hot Spot.
Jim Burgoon