Numbers 23:19—“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?”
This declaration comes from the mouth of Balaam, a reluctant prophet hired by the Moabite king, Balak, to curse Israel. In a striking display of divine sovereignty, God speaks one of Scripture’s clearest affirmations of His unchangeable faithfulness through the mouth of a man marked by covetousness, spiritual treachery, and deliberate malice against His people. At the same time, Israel stood in the plains of Moab equally exposed—unfaithful, murmuring, and wholly undeserving—yet the LORD, faithful to His own Word, refused to reverse the covenantal blessing He had graciously spoken over them.
The verse contrasts human fickleness with divine faithfulness. Humans lie, regret, and revise; God does not. His purposes and promises are never compromised. What God says He will do, He does. His covenant is not governed by emotion or manipulation but by His holy and truthful nature.
This does not deny that God responds relationally in history. God’s responses in history do not mean that He changes His mind in the way humans do, or revises His eternal plan. Instead, His relational actions are the outworking in time of what He has eternally purposed.
For weary believers, this verse is a strong consolation. When conscience trembles over personal failure, this text reminds us that salvation rests on God’s Word, not ours. In seasons when prayer feels unanswered or promises delayed, faith clings to this truth: God has not changed His mind. When circumstances accuse God of forgetfulness, Numbers 23:19 declares to us His reliability.
Let us rest today in the God who cannot lie. Every promise spoken over His people in Christ will be made good, fully and faithfully.
