Malachi 3:6: “For I [am] the LORD, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed.”

I have a friend who is convinced that we are about to hear the final Trump.  That’s Donald Trump.  I have yet to hear the jokes being made that compare Donald Trump to the Biblical Trump or that he is turning 70 years old this year, the year of completion or how about  The Trump has sounded after the Blood Moons etc. I figured evangelicals would have field day with all this but they are strangely silent.  Once again I am blindsided.  Jimmy Carter openly declared himself to be born again, a Baptist Sunday School Teacher who saw a UFO, so I figured I was finally joining hands with the evangelical community by supporting Jimmy Carter and what do the brethren do, they rally around Reagan a twice married Hollywood actor who drinks and covers up the government secrets on Roswell.  Now we had a candidate, Cruz, who memorized half the Bible, a declared born again evangelical washed in the Blood Christian  whose father is an evangelical pastor.  I threw my passion behind him thinking once again I was on the same page with my evangelical community, when what happens?  My brethren, without so much as a quote from a Scofield Reference Bible throw their support to Trump, a thrice married, foul mouth, gambling casino owner making promises that even, a demagogue could not keep. Well, maybe they are taking the words of Martin Luther the 16^th century reformer seriously: “I’d rather be ruled by a wise Turk than by a foolish Christian.”  And no, I don’t believe Cruz’s old man was in cahoots with Oswald and the JFK assassination..

I still wave my flag among the evangelicals and declare myself a card carrying evangelical it is just that when it comes to politics I am amazingly in the dark as to who I am to support as an evangelical. Evangelicals tend to run off with their new fads leaving me behind in the dust. But  then that is what I admire about us evangelicals we are open to change.  Geared to the times but anchored to the rock as the old evangelical organization Youth for Christ used to say.

Then again, I hate change.  After I finish this study I will be meeting with a property manager about checking out a new apartment.  My landlord is in a nursing home and the son is selling the house I live in so in another I will be homeless if I don’t get my act together and come to grips with this change it will change for me whether I like it or not.  I hate change.  Yet, I also embrace change.   I guess when it comes down to it there is always changes coming into our lives, almost every day we change, some minor changes like going to a different gas station to fill up your tank to deciding Trump is God’s man and not Cruz. Change is necessary and many times change is good and necessary. No comment on whether the change to Trump is good or bad.

Yet, God says that he will never change. In the context of Malachi His people were being tormented by an oppressive government and business leaders.  These leaders were cheating the people out of their wages, they were forcing them people to plant crops that would be used in trade for luxury items for the rich leaving barely enough for the farmers to plant food for their families.  The nation was prosperous yet many were going hungry.  Like today people are calling out for change, change in government, and change in business practices.  Most experts agree that Donald Trump is not part of the government establishment  which many believe chooses the candidates that we are then told to vote for.  Many experts agree that it is this rebellion against the establishment that gave Trump the nomination and almost caused Bernie Sanders to usurp our beloved Hillary from her throne.  People want change, drastic change no longer the same old same old. Either we go with a capitalist or a socialist, anything but the status quo. Yet, God never changes.

In the context God is saying that He has promised to protect His people and He will keep His promises as He had always done.  He is faithful and is not about to change any of that.  Yet it is interesting that this word for change is shanah like in Rosh Hashanah the Jewish New Year.  Literally Rosh Hashanah means the head of repeat. That does not sound good if we render this literally as: “I the Lord will never repeat or do again.”  It also means to alter or in the Hithpael to disguise oneself.  The word itself comes from an old Akkadian word used for dyeing cloth or changing the color of cloth.  So God is saying that He will never change the color of the cloth. In other words there may be a superficial change but it is still the same old same old underneath.   But that is super good with regard to God.

I am facing some serious changes in my life as I have faced many times in the past.  This nation could face some serious changes, many are really frightened over the prospect of a Hillary or Trump presidency, convinced both are a bad choice. But the promise is that God is still the same God that pulled us out of the mud in the past and will do it again in the future.  Maybe He appears to be operating in a different way or a different color of operation, but He is still the same old God underneath He is shanah, who will repeat His faithful deliverance in the past.  So if God does not change then I can be certain that at just the right time there will be a place for me to live. It doesn’t matter who is president, God still rules and hey, check the context here.  Big changes were in store for Judah here, the oppressive government and business men were going down as God rides in dressed in shanah red of war but to the righteous and faithful God will still be that  God who is dressed in the shinning (another rendering of shanah) armor to protect those who loved Him.  Just as today even if the oppressive government or businesses are brought down, He is still the same God who will be faithful to us who love Him.

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