Quote Originally Posted by Cha
God doesn't lie literally but God has a tendency to change His mind or play with our minds. For example, He told Abraham that He would destroy a city. Abraham felt sad so God changed His mind. Perhaps it was another test like when God told Abraham to sacrifice Isaac and then God said not to. God is tricky.
Back to Genesis with you, my friend. The cities you're thinking of are Sodom and Gomorrah, and God did, in fact, destroy them. Nevertheless, there are other biblical examples to better illustrate your point, but you'd be better off looking for them in books like Jonah (God spares Ninevah when they repent upon hearing Jonah's message) or Exodus (God spares the Isrealites after Moses pleads their case).

I suppose that saying "God is tricky" is one way of putting it. We just can't really comprehend His mind. What looks like a "change of mind" from our perspective may in fact be something completely different; perhaps it was planned all along. Anyway, I can't imagine myself complaining if an apparent change of mind results in greater mercy.