Does God Change?

I finished vacation goal No. 1 - I finished reading Wild at Heart. This has definitely been a book that has raised more questions than answers.

Here's the major one...not a new question but a nagging question. Someone please help me square the following...

'There are not formulas with God. Period. So there are no formulas for the man who follows him. God is a Person, not a doctrine. He operates not like a system-not even a theological system-but with all the originality of a truly free and alive person." (p. 209 Wild at Heart by John Eldredge).


If this is true than how do we know who it is that we worship? How do we know He loves us? Yes, in that past He has loved us and demonstrated that in Christ, but if he can not be understood in a formula or a system than He can not be predicted. His love for us in the past no longer becomes the guarantee that he will love us in the future. EldregeEldredge uses Moses' dialogue with God as evidence of this unpredictable God. And yes, it does appear as if God changes His mind. But does he or is he teaching Moses something about the interaction of prayer and grace?

True...God is not a doctrine or a system. But we have developed doctrines and systems to help us understand Him based on what He has revealed to us about Himself. C. S. Lewis came closer to the truth in, Mere Christianity. He made a similar point to Eldredge concerning the danger of putting God in our small little boxes but concluded that centuries of thought and theology concerning God, based on His Word, can not be discarded when deciding who it is that we worship.

I'm sure I am misreading what Eldredge is trying to communicate so somebody help me out with this one.