Providence and Prayer: If God Is Sovereign, Why Pray?
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In His sovereignty, He has so designed His plan of salvation as to work through the prayers of His people. And that's why the Bible again and again encourages us, not only encourages us, but commands us to be actively involved in prayer.
Have you ever asked the question, what's the point in praying? If it's true that God is sovereign over all things, that there isn't even one maverick molecule, then why pray? That's the question Ursi Sproul will tackle today on this Saturday edition of Renewing Your Mind. Prayer is part of the Christian life, so it's vital that we understand prayer biblically and address the relationship between God's sovereignty and our prayer lives. But before we get to this final message in Dr. Sproul's series, please know that today is the final day that you can request this series on DVD with digital access to the messages and study guide when you give a gift of any amount at renewingyourmind.org. And remember, this offer won't be repeated next Saturday. Well, here's Dr. Sproul on providence and prayer.
Earlier in our study of prayer, I made mention that our prayer life is intimately related to the providence of God. And we talked about how it's God's provisions that we are praying about and for when we entreat Him in our communication of prayer. But when we look at the doctrine of divine providence, we recognize that God governs the entire universe and all things in it, and that He is sovereign over everything that takes place. And as soon as we begin to wrestle with the sovereignty of God over His creation and really examine the fine points of the doctrine of providence, one of the first questions we encounter is, well, if God is sovereign, And if He ordains everything that comes to pass in some sense, what use is there in praying? Why should we pray at all? I get that question all the time.
And of course, the simple answer, the easy answer, which doesn't satisfy too many people, is that God not only ordains the ends of of the universe and of human history, but He also ordains the means to those ends. And just like He sovereignly has a plan of salvation that He is unfolding in history, part of the way in which He works out His plan of redemption is through the preaching of the Word. It's God who brings the increase to the preaching of the Word, but He uses that means for His end. And so, therefore, we have a responsibility in light of divine sovereignty and in light of His providence to be engaged in preaching. Well, the same thing can be said for prayer. God works in and through the prayers of His people.
And so it's not that the New Testament says, well, God is sovereign, so you can just go back and put up your heels and take a nap and don't be engaged in preaching or in praying or in any activity. On the contrary, it's It's because God is sovereign that we get so excited about the whole role of prayer because in His sovereignty, He has so designed His plan of salvation as to work through the prayers of His people. And that's why the Bible again and again encourages us, not only encourages us, but commands us to be actively involved in prayer. Well, then the question comes, well, do you mean then, R.C. ? that prayer changes God's mind. I get that question a lot. Let's look at that. Does prayer change God's mind? I said, well, if we ask the question in that manner, obviously to ask that question is to answer it. I mean, the only answer I can give to it is not simply by saying, no, prayer doesn't change God's mind. The only real answer I can give to that question is, of course not.
What could be further from your imagination than that your prayer or my prayer would have the power or the influence to change the mind of the Almighty? I mean, just think about that for just two minutes, and you will see that to ask the question is to answer it. Because what would have to happen for God to change His mind? What kind of a view of God do we have when we assume that God has worked out a plan, and He has His plan A, and He's about to implement this plan that grows out of His perfect knowledge, of His absolute wisdom. and his total righteousness and integrity. So he's utterly incapable of having an evil design, and he's incapable of having a foolish plan, isn't he?
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