Day #33: The Sermon on the Mount Part 3: Prayer and the Sovereignty of God (Dave Snoke)
Matthew 6:8 “Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him.”
It’s possible to get tied in knots about cause and effect when we think of prayer. If God knows what we need before we ask, why ask? For that matter, if God ordains all things that come to pass (e.g., Romans 11:36), what role can prayer have in anything?
We don’t seem to have the same philosophical problems in thinking about other things we do. We cook food for ourselves, and don’t say, “If God ordained for me to have food, it would just appear, and I wouldn’t need to cook!” We put on clothes, and don’t say, “If God ordained for me to not be naked, clothes would just appear on me!” No, we understand that both can be true, that God can ordain something to come about, and also that my actions can be the means that God uses to bring that about. My actions don’t always bring about what I intend, and sometimes things happen without me doing anything, but often and normally, God works through our actions.
Prayer is no different. One can say that “Things happen when we pray that don’t happen when we don’t pray.” God is pleased to use our prayers as one of the means of having his goals come about.
This doesn’t mean that our prayers work by changing God’s mind, making him do something he didn’t want to do. As C.S. Lewis wrote in The Magician’s Nephew,
“Wouldn’t he know without being asked?’ said Polly.
‘I’ve no doubt he would,’ said the Horse… ‘But I’ve a sort of an idea he likes to be asked.”
God is very often in the Bible depicted as responding to our prayers. He may wait until we ask before acting. That is not because he does something he doesn’t want to do, but because he is pleased to used our prayers as part of the process.
When you pray, ask and call out for what you believe is good, having faith that God can do it, and knowing that he loves to bless and give good things. Don’t view your prayers as just a religious duty or one that makes you more spiritual, but as something that can actually change the course of human history (for example, think of the Israelites calling out to God, and God answering by freeing their whole nation; see Exodus 2:23-25), and as something that can change the lives of the people around you.