CAN GOD CHANGE HIS IMMUTABLE ORDINATIONS?
Over the course of the last five weeks we have spent much time considering the providence of God, and how He has ordained whatsoever shall come to pass and more importantly that He has immutably ordained whatsoever shall come to pass.
With that in mind we are going to consider the last aspect of providence in this series this morning, and we are going to look at the question of: can God change His mind? Now although that is a virtually impossible question in itself, we need to make it a little more difficult, and we also then need to ask the question, since God has ordained everything, what is the place of prayer, or put it another way: can prayer change things?
That’s the question we are going to consider – can prayer change things? Can our praying, our fervent praying avail so much as to actually change the immutable plans of God?
Before I give you the short answer, let us read another few verse of Scripture which will shed some light on the answer.
Luke 11:2 “And he said to them, "When you pray, say: "Father, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come.”
Mat 6:8: “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
If we consider these verses, and especially the Matthew 6:8 verse which tells us that God already knows what we need, even before we ask, we are brought right to the answer to our question as to whether prayer can make God change His mind.
I’m going to give you the answer again this morning, and then explain how I got to that answer, and what the implications of that answer are, so that by the time we leave here we will have a deeper understanding of prayer, a greater love for prayer, a richer respect for the working power of prayer, and a complete satisfaction in our God who answers prayer.
Ok, so our question again then: can prayer change things, or can prayer make God change His mind? The answer, short and simple – NO. Prayer will not make God change His mind.
Now I can already hear the cries in your minds – but why do we pray then, hold on – I’m going to explain it all to you, and also tell you about the incredible power of prayer. (Sounds like a oxymoron, but it is not, it actually leads us to a real, deeper and richer understanding of what our prayer lives should be focussing on.)
Maybe I should begin the explanation with one of the greatest theologians when it comes to the providence of God, and no other theologian has ever studied providence and its implications more than John Calvin, and this is what he says in his Institutes of the Christian Religion: But some will say, does He not know, without a monitor, both what our difficulties are, and what is meat for our interests, so that it would seem unnecessary to solicit Him with our prayers, as if He were sleeping until aroused by the sound of our voice. Those who argue in this way attend not to the end or to the purpose for which the Lord taught us to pray. It was not so much for Gods good, as it was for our good.
What he is saying there is that our prayers are not there to inform God of what’s going on in His creation or in our lives. Prayer is not a way to keep God in the loop, or to inform Him of our needs as if He isn’t aware of them already.
Let me put it this way – God does not need the information, but He certainly encourages us to give Him the information.
Before I carry on, let me just say that it was no chance, it was no coincidence, in fact it was providence that lead us to study concurrence last week. Just to remind you, or for those who weren’t here, concurrence says that my individual actions and Gods’ individual actions are both working together towards Gods’ eternal, immutable plan which is derived from His free will. It is God working through my actions to bring about the good of those that love Him.
Now with that in mind we need to consider prayer again, you see, prayer is not a important part of concurrence, or even a vital aspect of concurrence – prayer is key, it is central, it is imperative to the working of concurrence, and that is exactly what Calvin said in the quote we read together. Prayer is not designed to manipulate God, or to coerce God, or to force God to do things we think He should be doing, prayer is designed to show us how God is working so that we can align ourselves to His eternal and immutable will.
Before I continue, let me make a statement that will form the basis of the rest of our study for this morning: prayer does not change things (ie Gods’ plan), prayer changes people. Prayer helps us, it is for us to enable us to ‘see’ and act according to the will of God.
(much of the pain and difficulties we as Christians experience are as a direct result of the fact that we sometimes fail to embrace the plan of God, and that is directly because we fail to seek the will of God in prayer!)
Ok, now let’s dig a bit deeper so that we can understand better. If God knows it all, and if it is all unchangeable, why should we pray?
1. It is for our benefit
Ever been in a situation where you know of something that is happening in a loved one’s life, but that person hasn’t spoken about it as yet. What do we do – we sit them down, and we say to them, ‘tell me about it’ ‘Tell me about what’s going on in your life’ You know full well what’s going on, but you want to provide them with the opportunity to tell you about it, to confide in you, to share with you, to open up to you.
That’s exactly what God does, and that’s one of the purposes of prayer. It’s not to inform God, it’s to confide in God, it’s to find your peace in Him, to find your comfort in Him, to place your trust in Him, and to have faith in Him.
In the evenings we are studying the prodigal Son, and we have just seen that the prodigal returns to his father in faith, with the belief that his father will have compassion on him, will forgive him, and will restore him. The father of the prodigal knew exactly what his son had done, knew exactly where he had been, he didn’t need that information, all the father did, the only thing he did, was he waited for his son to come to him. That’s God. He knows where you’ve been, what you’ve done, what you need, and all He is doing is waiting for you to come to Him and to tell Him.
God loves the communion He shares with His creation, especially with man since we are made in His image, and His desire is to walk with us, and to .... talk with us.
Think of the Garden of Eden. After the fall God walks in the Garden, and He does what? He calls for Adam. He knew Adam had sinned, He knew Eve had failed, and He knew exactly where they were hiding, yet He doesn’t storm directly on them – He wanted them to come to Him.
Dear friends, God doesn’t need to you inform Him, but Oh He longs for you to share with Him, and that is done through prayer.
Let me just say here as well before anyone misunderstands what I’m saying – this communion we are to have with God is not for Gods’ good, it is not because God needs it, it is because we need it!
God is self existing and He is completely self sufficient in and of Himself – whether we pray or not, God will always be God, He will always be completely satisfied and complete in and of Himself. My prayer life does not make God any more God, or my lack of a prayer life does not make God any less God – it’s not for God, it’s for me!
Think about it – as a Christian, and I’ve said this before, and unfortunately I’ve experienced it in my own life – the moment we stop praying, we start withering, we start stumbling, we start doubting, we start wavering and things start going wrong. Why is that? Very simply – prayer brings me closer to God, it is for my benefit, it is for my growth, it is so that my faith can grow and become stronger.
2. It is for our information and instruction
Like I have already said, prayer is not about us informing God, it is not about us instructing God.
As human beings we have developed a twisted view of our relationship towards and with God. I also said earlier that prayer is not about keeping God in the loop. We need to understand, remember, or maybe realise that God is the loop! Life does not revolve around us and our plans, life revolves around God and His plans, and prayer is Gods way of keeping us in the loop!
You see, prayer is in large part a matter of creating in ourselves a right attitude with respect to God’s will. To put it in another way, prayer is not getting God to do our will, it is demonstrating that we are as concerned as God is, that His will be done!
Remember the very first thing we said about providence was the fact that providence means that God sees the picture, past, present and future, and that He is working in that history to bring about His will. Bearing that in mind I am sure that you will agree that it is ridiculous to suppose that what we think should happen in more important than what God has ordained to happen!
Our entire prayer lives should be focussed on and centred around the fact that God is in control, that He knows the future, that He directs the future and that everything that is, and everything that happens is ordained by God! Our prayer must focus on that, and our requests must focus on that and seek the leading and guidance of God through His Holy Spirit to show us what God has planned for or lives rather than trying to tell God what we have planned for our lives!
Let me put it in another way again. God has planned your day, He has ordained your day, and what He has planned, what He has ordained shall come to pass! That is fact; that is reality; that cannot be disputed or discussed. Your role, your involvement is to spend time with God in prayer, to discover what that plan involves! Remember, Gods plans are immutable, they are unchangeable, they are fixed, they were determined before the creation. You now have the privilege of been part of that plan, and part of that privilege is to draw near to God in prayer to receive the power, the grace, the faith, the mercy, the strength, the whatever you need to face this day.
I also need to say here that this doesn’t mean that we can’t or shouldn’t bring our supplications/ requests before God, because as we saw in the previous point it is Gods desire that draw close to Him, that we make known to Him the desires of our hearts. (Php 4:6 “do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.”
The point to remember in this, is that we are not telling God what to do, we are not coercing God, we are not twisting His arm, we are bringing our desires, BUT, we are bringing them just as Jesus did, and just as He taught us to pray. (Our Father who art in heaven...Thy will be done; If possible let this cup....not My will, but Thine be done)
In this instance when Jesus was praying God sent angels to strengthen Him, when Paul asked about the throne in his flesh, God said My grace is sufficient. You see, prayer is not about changing things, it is about changing people, about us having the courage to accept the will of God, the grace to bear the will of God and the love to seek the will of God.
3. Prayer and concurrence
I want to close with this point, and I’m not going to labour it because we’ve already touched on it today and in weeks past. Prayer is a gift from God to us, and it is a privilege for us to be able to speak to the sovereign almighty omnipotent ruler of heaven and earth. The first and the last, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Prayer is God’s gift, but it is also our responsibility, our duty. We’ll be here all day if I start quoting all the passages that tell us to pray earnestly, regularly, continually, honestly, without stop etc.
All I want us to see and remember, is that prayer forms a vital role in concurrence (us acting and God acting toward one goal) Remember, Gods will will be fulfilled, His will will be done, what He has ordained shall come to pass, and whether we act according to His plan or contrary to His plan He will bring our actions in line, He will use what we maybe intended for evil or selfish motives, and He will use it for good to bring about His ordinance.
We don’t have to take the hard road though, we don’t have to go through all the trials, if we just spend time in prayer to be lead and guided in the will of God, our concurrent actions will be in line with the will of God, and we will be blessed in the process.
So dear friends, we finish this wonderful series on the providence of God, and it is wonderful to know that we serve a sovereign God, who sees the future and acts in it, who causes and ordains whatsoever shall come to pass, who leaves nothing to chance, who isn’t thwarted by sin and evil, who works in and through His creation concurrently, and yet who loves us so, that He is willing to share His will with us if we draw near to Him in prayer.
Thank you for taking the time to read this message. If you would now be so kind as to comment or rate this message it would greatly assist me as a pastor to ensure that I am in line with Scripture and that I am theologically accurate.
Your brother in Christ
Ian
