Why Pray if God Is Sovereign?
January 22nd, 2009
(By Matt Waymeyer)
* Matt pastors Community Bible Church in Vista, California. He is a graduate of The Master’s Seminary, and a periodic contributor to Pulpit.
The story is told about a small town in the south. For many years, this town had been “dry” in that no alcohol was ever sold or served there. But one day a businessman in the area decided to build a tavern. In response to this new tavern, a group of Christians from a local church became concerned and planned an all-night prayer meeting to ask God to intervene. Shortly after the prayer meeting that night, lightning struck the bar and it burned to the ground.
In the aftermath of the fire, the owner of the tavern sued the church, claiming that the prayers of the congregation were responsible for his loss. But the church hired a lawyer to argue in court that they were not responsible. After his initial review of the case the presiding judge began the trial with an official statement. He said: “No matter how this case comes out, one thing is clear: the tavern owner believes in prayer, and the Christians do not.”
It is very easy to dismiss the power of prayer, isn’t it? It is very easy to drift into thinking that prayer is a nice sentiment, but in the end, a waste of time because it doesn’t really make any difference anyway.
For some people, this kind of dismissal arises from unbelief and doubt that God really can answer prayer. For others, however, the question that paralyzes their prayer life is this: If God is sovereign, why pray?
In other words, if God will simply do what He wants to anyway, why offer prayers of petition and intercession? Why bother requesting that God do such and such when everything has been ordained by Him beforehand? If prayer consists of pleading with God to change His eternal purposes, isn’t such an undertaking feeble at best and arrogant at worst?
Although there are no easy answers to these questions, Scripture is not silent on this issue. My purpose here is to examine the Bible’s teaching on the sovereignty of God and the prayers of man with the goal of answering the question, “If God is sovereign, why pray?” This will be done by briefly defining what it means that God is sovereign and then by offering five answers to the question of why people should pray.
God Is Sovereign
When people make plans, it is not uncommon for those plans to fail or to be thwarted in one way or another. In contrast to His creatures, however, Almighty God always brings about that which He has purposed. In a word, God is sovereign.
This truth is perhaps most clearly seen in the words of Isaiah 46:9-11, where God demonstrated His superiority over the Babylonian idols by declaring:
Remember the former things long past, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is no one like Me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things which have not been done, saying, “My purpose will be established, and I will accomplish all My good pleasure”; calling a bird of prey from the east, the man of My purpose from a far country. Truly I have spoken; truly I will bring it to pass. I have planned it, surely I will do it.
In this passage, God indicates that He both purposes what He desires to happen and then actually brings those purposes to pass. In other words, God providentially brings about in time and history what He has sovereignly ordained in eternity past. As the apostle Paul writes, God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Eph 1:11).
The truth of God’s sovereignty over His creation is taught throughout Scripture. The psalmist declares, “Whatever the Lord pleases, He does, in heaven and in earth, in the seas and in all deeps” (Ps 135:6; cf. 115:3; Dan. 4:35); Proverbs 19:21 says, “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but the counsel of the Lord, it will stand;” and Proverbs 21:1 states, “The king’s heart is like channels of water in the hand of the Lord; He turns it wherever He wishes.” As W. Bingham Hunter writes, “From a biblical perspective, your world-history book should be prefaced with 2 Kings 19:25: ‘Have you not heard? Long ago I ordained it. In the days of old I planned it; now I have brought it to pass’” (The God Who Hears, 49).
(To Be Continued Tomorrow)
To paraprhase our parents, “Because He SAID SO!”. Really that’s all it is. Noah preached and nothing happened but God’s word doesn’t return to Him void. Calvinists think that means everyone He intends to saved WILL be saved, we believe that whether the offer is accepted or rejected, God’s purpose is accomplished; man is without excuse.
If God ‘listens to’ a man (which He has many times), He knew that man would pray obediently anyway. He does not react.
David, when you say, “we believe that whether the offer is accepted or rejected, God’s purpose is accomplished; man is without excuse,” I assume you mean that the decision to “accept the offer of salvation” is wholly man’s decision? If so, how do you reconcile that belief with the following passages of scripture?: Ezekiel 36:27, Exodus 33:19, Philippians 1:28-29, Matthew 11:25-27, Matthew 13:10-11, Mark 4:9-12, Mark 13:20, John 1:12-13, John 3:5-8, John 5:21, John 6:37, John 6:65, John 13:18, John 15:19, John 17:6,9, Acts 2:39, Acts 11:18, Acts 13:48, Acts 16:14, 1 Corinthians 1:22-24, Luke 10:21-22, 2 Thessalonians 2:13, 2 Timothy 1:9, 2 Timothy 2:25, Colossians 3:12, 1 Peter 1:1-3, 2 Peter 1:10, Ephesians 1:4-6, Ephesians 1:11, Ephesians 2:4-5, Ephesians 2:8-10, Titus 1:1-2, James 1:17-18, Romans 8:28-30, Romans 9:14-16, Romans 9:18-21, Romans 11:4-8.
Joshua 24:15, 1 Kings 18:21, Proverbs 1:29, Isaiah 56:4, Deuteronomy 30:19, Joel 2:12, Haggai 2:17, Ezekiel 33:11
It’s the chicken and the egg thing. Admit it, one could easily come to either (or both) conclusion(s) reading scripture. You’ve opted for the one that makes God (appear) cruel, capricious, deceptive, false and double-minded. My whole thing is to say: let’s not fight. I do not believe I ’saved myself’ or any such thing. I just want to challenge the notion that non-Calvinists are senitmental sots who are biblically illiterate. Remember: I believe God allows millions to come to term, be born, grow up, etc. KNOWING they’re going to hell…I merely deny that He makes the decision for them. We’re pretty much on the same page. Oh, yes, he is sovereign also.
“KNOWING they’re going to hell…I merely deny that He makes the decision for them.”
He could keep them from being born. God in His most merciful and righteous wisdom and love, has purposed the wicked for destruction. And, you David, and me, and every other sinner deserves the same destruction.
And yet God had mercy on us! Why would He do such a thing? Because He loved us yes, but why did he love us? And if He loved all of us the same, then all would be saved.
For me a Reformed guy, there’s a mystery to God’s purpose in all this. Election and free will are a paradox to us finite humans, and we can surely discuss this deep truth until we die or the Lord returns, but there’s a spiritual missing link for this believer, and so I have to live my life out not knowing the secret things of God, but to keep dilegently studying the revealed things, so I can continue to grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Donsands,
Very well said brother.
David,
You are correct that people could easily come to either conclusion, however, if you follow correct guidelines for interpreting scripture (i.e. you interpret the implicit based on the explicit) I believe that you will not come to an Arminian view.
As for the verses you cited, not one of them teaches what you propose that they teach. To find out what is meant by a passage or verse, you must ask yourself these questions (they are basically the same, but are worded slightly differently). 1) What did the author intend his readers to understand from his writing. 2) What did the readers likely understand the writing to mean.
One rule of interpretation that I think you have violated is that you must interpret the history narratives by the didactic, or teaching, portions of scripture. You took Joshua 24:15 and 1 Kings 18:21 (among others), which are historical narratives, and drew from them a meaning that was neither intended by the author, nor supported by the explicit didactic teaching of the rest of scripture.
Here is an example of a passage in which the author intended to communicate to his readers that God’s choice, rather than man’s choice, is the ultimate deciding factor in whether or not a person will be saved. Not only does the author intend to communicate this message, but it is explicit. Romans 9:14-18 explicitly teaches the doctrine of election. Vs. 16 says, “So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.” To find out what “it” is, we must look at the context of the passage. If you read vs. 1-13, you will find that the entire chapter, up to vs. 29 is speaking of election, as stated in vs. 11. This is an example of explicit teaching. As Charles Spurgeon (I believe) once said, “As long as Romans 9 is in the Bible, no one will be able to convince me of Arminianism.”