Why Bother Praying?
Tonight I am facilitating a discussion in my bible study group, in the temporary absence of my co-leader, and so we are going to pause from our current course of study to look at prayer. So, here is an essay I wrote some time ago in response to the question "Why bother praying if God has already determined what will happen?" which I have used as a base - and am going to plonk it here, because I have been too busy writing the study to blog :). (P.S. I wrote this essay shortly before Phillip Jensen and Tony Payne's book on prayer was published, incase you think they've said all this, or wonder why I didn't reference it.) Here it is:
The asking of this question usually arises, fundamentally, from an imbalance in understanding of the fact that God is both sovereign and personal. A skewed theological perspective can impact our perceptions of the reasons for, and efficacy of, prayer and result in a decrease in the activity of prayer. However, as Carson points out (1), the bible insists that we pray and constantly urges us to pray, such that something is amiss with our theology if it becomes a disincentive to pray.
A right view of prayer will come from a right view of God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility for his actions, and will require an appropriate understanding of the mystery of the ways of God, such that these two truths are not held to be mutually exclusive or contradictory (1). Both of these propositions are supported by numerous passages of scripture, one example of which is Acts 4:27-28 in which Herod and Pilate are clearly held responsible for conspiring to crucify Jesus, yet also declared to be acting only according to what God’s will had foreordained. We should therefore be careful to avoid definitions that are not supported by the bible, such as the idea that "freedom", and ensuing responsibility, must entail power to act contrary to God’s will, when freedom is more appropriately aligned with the idea that humans behave in line with their own desires (1). A right view of prayer will also involve understanding that God is sovereign, but that he is also good, and stands behind good and evil asymmetrically, such that the working of good can be credited to him, but the working of evil to secondary agents (1). Finally, it will require an appropriate understanding of the nature of God, that he is both transcendent and personal, and therefore that he is free (1).
To arrive at a biblical view of prayer it is appropriate to study how God’s sovereignty and human responsibility function in the passages of scripture where prayer is mentioned (1). Those who pray in the scriptures, including Jesus at Gethsemane, regularly pray according to the plans that God has already revealed (1). In Daniel 9:2-19, Daniel is well aware that the period of the exile is about to end, and so sets to pray for what he knows is God’s will, that God would maintain his own integrity and keep his covenant. Similarly, Moses prays to God (Exodus 32:12), trusting in the promises that he knows God has made to make a great nation of Israel and that God will act in such a way as to keep those promises (1). Ezekiel 2:30-31 makes it plain that God expects godly believers to intercede with him, which is his own appointed means of bringing about his relenting from destruction in this situation, as it was with Moses. Thus we see that a sure knowledge of God’s sovereignty and his purposes never deters prayer in the Scriptures. James 4:2 and 5:16 claim that we do not have because we do not ask, and that the prayers of the righteous avail much, eliminating the possibility that prayer does not change anything. However, our prayers are not exempted from God’s sovereignty (1). Prayer changes things in that our prayers are God’s appointed means of bringing about his purposes, not that they change things absolutely, to the surprise of God (1). Calvin (2) states that nothing is promised to be expected from God, which we are not also bidden to ask of him in prayers.
Prayer is thus a way for God’s people to articulate faith (3). It is putting faith into words and acknowledging that we trust God with the subject of our prayers, and know that he cares for us and will keep his promises (3). Calvin outlines the benefits to God’s people themselves that stem from prayer, including that we grow used to taking all things before God in prayer, that we are prepared to receive his gifts with gratitude and meditate on his kindness, reminded by our prayers that they come from him, and that we confirm his Providence, that his promises never fail and he is ever ready to help his people (2). Prayer, therefore, also brings glory to God as we give him credit and honour for being God, a God who cares and is able to act (3). Psalm 145:18 asserts that God is near to those who call on him. This and many other passages inform us that, far from it being superfluous for us to ask for those things which God has determined to give, God would have us recognise as answers to prayers those things that he generously gives (2). So too, Psalm 34:15 commends the providence of God in caring for his people, yet not to diminish the exercise of their faith in prayer (2). The act of praying declares that God is the sovereign ruler of the world and that we depend and rely on him for all things (3 & 4).
We therefore see that our view on the efficacy of, and reasons for, our prayer stems from our theology of who God is and how he interacts with his world, and that our theology is faulty if it hinders our praying. To quote Carson "the biblical emphasis on God’s sovereignty and on God’s personhood, if they function in our lives properly, will serve as powerful incentives to prayer and as direction for the way in which we approach God" and we shall come to appreciate that "It is worth praying to a sovereign God because he is free and can take action as he wills; it is worth praying to a personal God because he hears, responds and acts on behalf of his people ..." (1).
References
(1.) Carson, D.A. 1992. A Call to Spiritual Reformation – Priorities from Paul and His Prayers. Baker Books, Grand Rapids, US.
(2.) Calvin, J. 1996. Prayer. Matthias Media, Sydney, Australia.
(3.) Jensen, P. J. 2006. Notes from a sermon titled "What Happens When we Pray" given at St Andrew’s Cathedral, 13 March 2005.
(4.) Packer J.I. 1961. Evangelism and the Sovereignty of God. Intervarsity Press, Leicester, England.