Chapter 9
GOD’S
SOVEREIGNTY AND PRAYER
"If we ask anything
according to His will, He heareth us"
1 John 5:14
Throughout this book it has been
our chief aim to exalt the Creator and abase the creature.
The well-nigh universal tendency, now, is to magnify man and dishonor and
degrade God. On every hand it will be found that, when spiritual things are
under discussion, the human side and element is pressed and stressed, and the
Divine side, if not altogether ignored, is relegated to the background. This
holds true of very much of the modern teaching about prayer. In the great
majority of the books written and in the sermons preached
upon prayer, the human element fills the scene almost entirely: it is the
conditions which we must meet, the promises we must "claim", the
things we must do, in order to get our requests granted; and God’s claims,
God’s rights, God’s glory are disregarded.
As a fair
sample of what is being given out today we subjoin a brief editorial which
appeared recently in one of the leading religious weeklies entitled
"Prayer, or Fate?"
"God in His sovereignty
has ordained that human destinies may be changed and moulded
by the will of man. This is at the heart of the truth that prayer changes
things, meaning that God changes things when men pray. Some one has strikingly
expressed it this way: ‘There are certain things that will happen in a man’s
life whether he prays or not. There are other things that will happen if he
prays, and will not happen if he does not pray’. A Christian worker was
impressed by these sentences as he entered a business
office, and he prayed that the Lord would open the way to speak to some one
about Christ, reflecting that things would be changed because he prayed. Then
his mind turned to other things and the prayer was forgotten. The opportunity
came to speak to the business man on whom he was calling, but he did not grasp
it, and was on his way out when he remembered his prayer of
a half hour before, and God’s answer. He promptly returned and had a talk with
the business man, who, though a church-member, had never in his life been asked
whether he was saved. Let us give ourselves to prayer, and open the way for God
to change things. Let us beware lest we become virtual fatalists by failing to
exercise our God-given wills in praying".
The above illustrates what is
now being taught on the subject of prayer, and the deplorable thing is that
scarcely a voice is lifted in protest. To say that "human destinies may be
changed and moulded by the will of man" is rank infidelity—that is the
only proper term for it. Should any one challenge this classification, we would
ask them whether they can find an infidel anywhere who would
dissent from such a statement, and we are confident that such an one could not
be found. To say that "God has ordained that human destinies may be
changed and moulded by the will of man", is absolutely untrue. "Human
destiny" is settled not by "the will of man," but by the will of
God. That which determines human destiny is whether or not a man
has been born again, for it is written, "Except a man be born again he
cannot see the kingdom of God". And as to whose will, whether God’s or
man’s, is responsible for the new birth is settled, unequivocally, by John
1:13—"Which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of
the will of man, but OF GOD". To say that "human destiny" may be
changed by the will of man, is to make the creature’s will
supreme, and that is, virtually, to dethrone God. But what saith the
Scriptures? Let the Book answer: "The Lord killeth, and maketh alive: He
bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up. The Lord maketh poor, and maketh
rich: He bringeth low, and lifteth up. He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
and lifteth up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and to
make them inherit the throne of glory" (1 Sam. 2:6-8).
Turning back to the Editorial
here under review, we are next told, "This is at the heart of the truth
that prayer changes things, meaning that God changes things when men
pray." Almost everywhere we go today one comes across a motto-card bearing the inscription "Prayer Changes Things". As
to what these words are designed to signify is evident from the current
literature on prayer—we are to persuade God to change His purpose. Concerning
this we shall have more to say below.
Again, the
Editor tells us, "Some one has strikingly expressed it this way: ‘There
are certain things that will happen in a man’s life whether he prays or not.
There are other things that will happen if he prays, and will not happen if he
does not pray.’" That things happen whether a man prays or not is
exemplified daily in the lives of the unregenerate, most of whom never pray at
all. That ‘other things will happen if he prays’ is in need
of qualification. If a believer prays in faith and asks for those things which
are according to God’s will, he will most certainly obtain that for which he
has asked. Again, that other things will happen if he prays, is also true in
respect to the subjective benefits derived from prayer: God will become more
real to him and His promises more precious. That other things ‘will not happen
if he does not pray’ is true so far as his own life is
concerned—a prayerless life means a life lived out of communion with God and
all that is involved by this. But to affirm that God will not and cannot bring
to pass His eternal purpose unless we pray, is utterly erroneous, for the same
God who has decreed the end has also decreed that His end shall be reached
through His appointed means, and one of these is prayer. The God who has determined to grant a blessing, also gives a spirit of
supplication which first seeks the blessing.
The example cited in the above
Editorial of the Christian Worker and the business man is a very unhappy one to
say the least, for according to the terms of the illustration
the Christian Worker’s prayer was not answered by God at all, inasmuch as,
apparently, the way was not opened to speak to the business man about his soul.
But on leaving the office and recalling his prayer the Christian Worker
(perhaps in the energy of the flesh) determined to answer the prayer for
himself, and instead of leaving the Lord to "open the way" for him,
took matters into his own hand.
We quote next from one of the
latest books issued on Prayer. In it the author says, "The possibilities
and necessity of prayer, its power and results, are manifested in arresting and
changing the purposes of God and in relieving the stroke of His power". Such an assertion as this is a horrible
reflection upon the character of the Most High God, who "doeth according
to His will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and
none can stay His hand, or say unto Him, What doest Thou?"(Dan. 4:35).
There is no need whatever for God to change His designs or alter His purpose,
for the all-sufficient reason that these were framed under the influence
of perfect goodness and unerring wisdom. Men may have occasion to alter their
purposes, for in their short-sightedness they are frequently unable to
anticipate what may arise after their plans are formed. But not so with God,
for He knows the end from the beginning. To affirm that God changes His purpose
is either to impugn His goodness or to deny His eternal wisdom.
In the same book we are told,
"The prayers of God’s saints are the capital stock in heaven by which
Christ carries on His great work upon earth. The great throes and mighty
convulsions on earth are the results of these prayers. Earth is changed,
revolutionized, angels move on more powerful, more rapid wing, and God’s policy
is shaped as the prayers are more numerous, more
efficient". If possible, this is even worse, and we have no hesitation in
denominating it as blasphemy. In the first place, it flatly denies Ephesians
3:11, which speaks of God’s having an "eternal purpose". If God’s
purpose is an eternal one, then His "policy" is not being
"shaped" today. In the second place, it contradicts Ephesians 1:11
which expressly declares that God "worketh all things
after the counsel of His own will," therefore it follows that, "God’s
policy" is not being "shaped" by man’s prayers. In the third
place, such a statement as the above makes the will of the creature supreme,
for if our prayers shape God’s policy, then is the Most High subordinate to
worms of the earth. Well might the Holy Spirit ask through the apostle,
"For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath
been His counsellor?" (Rom. 11:34).
Such thoughts on prayer as we
have been citing are due to low and inadequate conceptions of God Himself. It
ought to be apparent that there could be little or no comfort in praying to a
God that was like the chameleon, which changes its color every
day. What encouragement is there to lift up our hearts to One who is in one
mind yesterday and another today? What would be the use of petitioning an
earthly monarch, if we knew he was so mutable as to grant a petition one day
and deny it another? Is it not the very unchangeableness of God which is our
greatest encouragement to pray? It is because He is "without variableness
or shadow of turning" we are assured that if we ask
anything according to His will we are most certain of being heard. Well did
Luther remark, "Prayer is not overcoming God’s reluctance, but laying hold
of His willingness."
And this leads us to offer a
few remarks concerning the design of prayer. Why has God
appointed that we should pray? The vast majority of people would reply, In order
that we may obtain from God the things which we need. While this is one of the
purposes of prayer, it is by no means the chief one. Moreover, it considers
prayer only from the human side, and prayer sadly needs to be viewed from the
Divine side. Let us look, then, at some of the reasons why God has bidden us to
pray.
First and foremost, prayer has
been appointed that the Lord God Himself should be honored. God requires we
should recognize that He is, indeed, "the high and lofty One that
inhabiteth eternity" (Isa. 57:17). God requires that we shall own His
universal dominion: in petitioning God for rain, Elijah did but confess His
control over the elements; in praying to God to deliver a
poor sinner from the wrath to come, we acknowledge that "salvation is of
the Lord" (Jonah 2:9) ; in supplicating His blessing on the Gospel unto
the uttermost parts of the earth, we declare His rulership over the whole
world.
Again; God
requires that we shall worship Him, and prayer, real prayer, is an act of
worship. Prayer is an act of worship inasmuch as it is the prostrating of the
soul before Him; inasmuch as it is a calling upon His great and holy name;
inasmuch as it is the owning of His goodness, His power, His immutability, His
grace, and inasmuch as it is the recognition of His sovereignty, owned by a
submission to His will. It is highly significant to notice
in this connection that the Temple was not termed by Christ the House of
Sacrifice, but instead, the House of Prayer.
Again; prayer redounds to
God’s glory, for in prayer we do but acknowledge our dependency upon Him. When
we humbly supplicate the Divine Being we cast ourselves
upon His power and mercy. In seeking blessings from God we own that He is the
Author and Fountain of every good and perfect gift. That prayer brings glory to
God is further seen from the fact that prayer calls faith into exercise, and
nothing from us is so honoring and pleasing to Him as the confidence of our
hearts.
In the
second place, prayer is appointed by God for our spiritual blessing, as a means
for our growth in grace. When seeking to learn the design of prayer, this
should ever occupy us before we regard prayer as a means for obtaining the
supply of our need. Prayer is designed by God for our humbling. Prayer, real
prayer, is a coming into the Presence of God, and a sense of His awful majesty
produces a realization of our nothingness and unworthiness.
Again; prayer is designed by God for the exercise of our faith. Faith is
begotten in the Word (Rom. 10:17), but it is exercised in prayer; hence, we
read of "the prayer of faith". Again; prayer calls love into action.
Concerning the hypocrite the question is asked, "Will he delight himself
in the Almighty? Will he always call upon God?" (Job 27:10). But they that
love the Lord cannot be long away from Him, for they
delight in unburdening themselves to Him. Not only does prayer call love into
action, but through the direct answers vouchsafed to our prayers, our love to
God is increased—"I love the Lord, because He hath heard my voice and my
supplications" (Ps. 116:1). Again; prayer is designed by God to teach us
the value of the blessings we have sought from Him, and it
causes us to rejoice the more when He has bestowed upon us that for which we
supplicate Him.
Third, prayer is appointed by
God for our seeking from Him the things which we are in need of. But here a
difficulty may present itself to those who have read carefully
the previous chapters of this book. If God has foreordained, before the
foundation of the world, everything which happens in time, what is the use of
prayer? If it is true that "of Him and through Him and to Him are all
things" (Rom. 11:36), then why pray? Ere replying directly to these
queries it should be pointed out how that there is just as much reason to ask,
What is the use of me coming to God and telling Him what He
already knows? wherein is the use of me spreading before Him my need, seeing He
is already acquainted with it? as there is to object, What is the use of
praying for anything when everything has been ordained beforehand by God?
Prayer is not for the purpose of informing God, as if He were ignorant, (the
Saviour expressly declared "for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask Him"—Matt. 6:8), but it is to
acknowledge He does know what we are in need of. Prayer is not appointed for
the furnishing of God with the knowledge of what we need, but it is designed as
a confession to Him of our sense of the need. In this, as in everything, God’s
thoughts are not as ours. God requires that His gifts should be sought for. He
designs to be honored by our asking, just as He is to be
thanked by us after He has bestowed His blessing.
However, the question still
returns on us, If God be the Predestinator of everything that comes to pass,
and the Regulator of all events, then is not prayer a profitless exercise? A
sufficient answer to these questions is, that God bids us to pray—"Pray without ceasing" (1 Thess. 5:17). And again, "men
ought always to pray" (Luke 18:1). And further: Scripture declares that,
"the prayer of faith shall save the sick", and, "the effectual
fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much" (James 5:15, 16); while
the Lord Jesus Christ—our perfect Example in all things—was pre-eminently a Man
of Prayer. Thus, it is evident, that prayer is neither meaningless nor valueless. But still this does not remove the difficulty
nor answer the question with which we started out. What then is the
relationship between God’s sovereignty and Christian prayer?
First of all, we would say
with emphasis, that prayer is not intended to change God’s purpose,
nor is it to move Him to form fresh purposes. God has decreed that certain
events shall come to pass, but He has also decreed that these events shall come
to pass through the means He has appointed for their accomplishment. God has
elected certain ones to be saved, but He has also decreed that these ones shall
be saved through the preaching of the Gospel. The Gospel, then, is one of the
appointed means for the working out of the eternal counsel
of the Lord; and prayer is another. God has decreed the means as well as the
end, and among the means is prayer. Even the prayers of His people are included
in His eternal decrees. Therefore, instead of prayers being in vain, they are
among the means through which God exercises His decrees. "If indeed all
things happen by a blind chance, or a fatal necessity, prayers in
that case could be of no moral efficacy, and of no use; but since they are
regulated by the direction of Divine wisdom, prayers have a place in the order
of events" (Haldane).
That prayers for the execution
of the very things decreed by God are not meaningless, is
clearly taught in the Scriptures. Elijah knew that God was about to give rain,
but that did not prevent him from at once betaking himself to prayer, (James
5:17, 18). Daniel "understood" by the writings of the prophets that
the captivity was to last but seventy years, yet when these seventy years were
almost ended, we are told that he "set his face unto the Lord God, to seek
by prayer and supplications, with fasting and sackcloth and
ashes" (Dan. 9:2, 3). God told the prophet Jeremiah "For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of
evil, to give you an expected end"; but instead of adding, there is,
therefore, no need for you to supplicate Me for these things, He said,
"Then shall ye call upon Me, and ye shall go and pray unto Me, and I will hearken unto you" (Jer. 29:12).
Once more; in Ezekiel 36 we
read of the explicit, positive, and unconditional promises which God has made
concerning the future restoration of Israel, yet in verse 37 of this same
chapter we are told, "Thus saith the Lord God; I will vet for this be enquired of by the house of Israel, to do it for
then;"! Here then is the design of prayer: not that God’s will may be
altered, but that it may be accomplished in His own good time and way. It is
because God has promised certain things, that we can ask for them with the full
assurance of faith. It is God’s purpose that His will shall be brought about by
His own appointed means, and that He may do His people good
upon His own terms, and that is, by the ‘means’ and ‘terms’ of entreaty and
supplication. Did not the Son of God know for certain that after His death and
resurrection He would be exalted by the Father? Assuredly He did. Yet we find
Him asking for this very thing: "O Father, glorify Thou Me with Thine Own
Self with the glory which I had with Thee before the world was" (John
17:5)! Did not He know that none of His people could
perish? yet He besought the Father to "keep" them (John 17:11)!
Finally; it should be said
that God’s will is immutable, and cannot be altered by our crying. When the
mind of God is not toward a people to do them good, it cannot be turned to them by the most fervent and importunate prayers of
those who have the greatest interest in Him—"Then said the Lord unto me,
Though Moses and Samuel stood before Me, yet My mind could not be toward this
people: cast them out of My sight, and let them go forth" (Jer. 15:1). The
prayers of Moses to enter the promised land is a parallel case.
Our views respecting prayer
need to be revised and brought into harmony with the teaching of Scripture on
the subject. The prevailing idea seems to be, that I come to God and ask Him
for something that I want, and that I expect Him to give me that which I have
asked. But this is a most dishonoring and degrading conception. The popular belief reduces God to a servant, our servant: doing
our bidding, performing our pleasure, granting our desires. No; prayer is a
coming to God, telling Him my need, committing my way unto the Lord, and
leaving Him to deal with it as seemeth Him best. This makes my will subject to
His, instead of, as in the former case, seeking to bring His will into
subjection to mine. No prayer is pleasing to God unless the
spirit actuating it is, "not my will, but thine be done". "When
God bestows blessings on a praying people, it is not for the sake of their
prayers, as if He was inclined and turned by them; but it is for His own sake,
and of His own sovereign will and pleasure. Should it be said, to what purpose
then is prayer? it is answered, This is the way and means God has appointed,
for the communication of the blessing of His goodness to
His people. For though He has purposed, provided, and promised them, yet He
will be sought unto, to give them, and it is a duty and privilege to ask. When
they are blessed with a spirit of prayer, it forebodes well, and looks as if
God intended to bestow the good things asked, which should be asked always with
submission to the will of God, saying, Not my will but Thine be done" (John Gill).
The distinction just noted
above is of great practical importance for our peace of heart. Perhaps the one
thing that exercises Christians as much as anything else is that of unanswered
prayers. They have asked God for something: so far as they are able
to judge, they have asked in faith believing they would receive that for which
they had supplicated the Lord: and they have asked earnestly and repeatedly,
but the answer has not come. The result is that, in many cases, faith in the
efficacy of prayer becomes weakened, until hope gives way to despair and the
closet is altogether neglected. Is it not so?
Now will it surprise our readers
when we say that every real prayer of faith that has ever been offered to God
has been answered? Yet we unhesitatingly affirm it. But in saying this we must
refer back to our definition of prayer. Let us repeat it. Prayer is a coming to
God, telling Him my need (or the need of others), committing my way unto the Lord, and then leaving Him to deal with the case as
seemeth Him best. This leaves God to answer the prayer in whatever way He sees
fit, and often, His answer may be the very opposite of what would be most
acceptable to the flesh; yet, if we have really LEFT our need in His hands, it
will be His answer, nevertheless. Let us look at two examples.
In John 11 we read of the
sickness of Lazarus. The Lord "loved" him, but He was absent from
Bethany. The sisters sent a messenger unto the Lord acquainting Him of their
brother’s condition. And note particularly how their appeal was
worded—"Lord, behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick." That was all.
They did not ask Him to heal Lazarus. They did not request
Him to hasten at once to Bethany. They simply spread their need before Him,
committed the case into His hands, and left Him to act as He deemed best! And
what was our Lord’s reply? Did He respond to their appeal and answer their mute
request? Certainly He did, though not, perhaps, in the way they had hoped. He
answered by abiding "two days still in the same place where
He was" (John 11:6), and allowing Lazarus to die! But in this instance,
that was not all. Later, He journeyed to Bethany and raised Lazarus from the
dead. Our purpose in referring here to this case, is to illustrate the proper
attitude for the believer to take before God in the hour of need. The next
example will emphasize, rather, God’s method of responding to His needy child.
Turn to 2 Corinthians 12. The
apostle Paul had been accorded an unheard-of privilege. He had been transported
into Paradise. His ears have listened to and his eyes have gazed upon that
which no other mortal had heard or seen this side of death. The wondrous
revelation was more than the apostle could endure. He was in danger
of becoming "puffed up" by his extraordinary experience. Therefore, a
thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan, was sent to buffet him lest he be
exalted above measure. And the apostle spreads his need before the Lord; he
thrice beseeches Him that this thorn in the flesh should be removed. Was his
prayer answered? Assuredly, though not in the manner he had desired. The
"thorn" was not removed, but grace was given to
bear it. The burden was not lifted, but strength was vouchsafed to carry it.
Does someone object that it is
our privilege to do more than spread our need before God? Are we reminded that
God has, as it were, given us a blank check and invited us
to fill it in? Is it said that the promises of God are all-inclusive, and that
we may ask God for what we will? If so, we must call attention to the fact that
it is necessary to compare scripture with scripture if we are to learn the full
mind of God on any subject, and that as this is done we discover God has
qualified the promises given to praying souls by saying, "If we ask
anything according to His will He heareth us" (1 John
5:14). Real prayer is communion with God, so that there will be common thoughts
between His mind and ours. What is needed is for Him to fill our hearts with
His thoughts, and then His desires will become our desires flowing back to Him.
Here then is the meeting-place between God’s sovereignty and Christian prayer:
If we ask anything according to His will He heareth us, and if we do not so ask, He does not hear us; as saith the apostle James, "Ye
ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye might consume it upon your
lusts" or desires (4:3)
But did not the Lord Jesus
tell His disciples, "Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall
ask the Father in My name, He will give it you" (John 16:23)? He did; but this promise does not give praying souls carte
blanche. These words of our Lord are in perfect accord with those of the
apostle John—"If we ask anything according to His will He heareth
us." What is it to ask "in the name of Christ"? Surely it is
very much more than a prayer formula, the mere concluding of our supplications
with the words "in the name of Christ." To apply to God for anything in the name of Christ, it must needs be in keeping with what
Christ is! To ask God in the name of Christ is as though Christ Himself were
the suppliant. We can only ask God for what Christ would ask. To ask in the
name of Christ, is therefore, to set aside our own wills, accepting God’s!
Let us now
amplify our definition of prayer. What is prayer? Prayer is not so much an act
as it is an attitude— an attitude of dependency, dependency upon God. Prayer is
a confession of creature weakness, yea, of helplessness. Prayer is the acknowledgment
of our need and the spreading of it before God. We do not say that this is all
there is in prayer, it is not: but it is the essential, the primary element in prayer. We freely admit that we are quite unable to give a
complete definition of prayer within the compass of a brief sentence, or in any
number of words. Prayer is both an attitude and an act, a human act, and yet
there is the Divine element in it too, and it is this which makes an exhaustive
analysis impossible as well as impious to attempt. But admitting this, we do
insist again, that prayer is fundamentally an attitude of
dependency upon God. Therefore, prayer is the very opposite of dictating to
God. Because prayer is an attitude of dependency, the one who really prays is
submissive, submissive to the Divine will; and submission to the Divine will
means, that we are content for the Lord to supply our need according to the
dictates of His own sovereign pleasure. And hence it is that we say, every
prayer that is offered to God in this spirit is sure of
meeting with an answer or response from Him.
Here then is the reply to our
opening question, and the scriptural solution to the seeming difficulty. Prayer
is not the requesting of God to alter His purpose or for Him to form a new one.
Prayer is the taking of an attitude of dependency upon. God,
the spreading of our need before Him, the asking for those things which are in
accordance with His will, and therefore there is nothing whatever inconsistent
between Divine sovereignty and Christian prayer.
In closing this chapter we
would utter a word of caution to safeguard the reader against
drawing a false conclusion from what has been said. We have not here sought to
epitomize the whole teaching of Scripture on the subject of prayer, nor have we
even attempted to discuss in general the problem of prayer; instead, we have
confined ourselves, more or less, to a consideration of the relationship
between God’s Sovereignty and Christian Prayer. What we have written is
intended chiefly as a protest against much of the modern
teaching, which so stresses the human element in prayer, that the Divine side
is almost entirely lost sight of.
In Jeremiah 10:23 we are told
"It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps" (cf. Prov. 16:9);
and yet in many of his prayers, man impiously presumes to direct the Lord as to His way, and as to what He ought to do: even
implying that if only he had the direction of the affairs of the world and of
the Church, he would soon have things very different from what they are. This
cannot be denied: for anyone with any spiritual discernment at all could not
fail to detect this spirit in many of our modern prayer-meetings where the
flesh holds sway. How slow we all are to learn the lesson
that the haughty creature needs to be brought down to his knees and humbled
into the dust. And this is where the very act of prayer is intended to put us.
But man (in his usual perversity) turns the footstool into a throne, from
whence he would fain direct the Almighty as to what He ought to do! giving the
onlooker the impression that if God had half the compassion that those who pray
(?) have, all would quickly be put right! Such is the
arrogance of the old nature even in a child of God.
Our main purpose in this
chapter has been to emphasize the need for submitting, in prayer, our wills to
God’s. But it must also be added, that prayer is much more than a pious exercise, and far otherwise than a mechanical
performance. Prayer is, indeed, a Divinely appointed means whereby we may
obtain from God the things we ask, providing we ask for those things which are
in accord with His will. These pages will have been penned in vain unless they
lead both writer and reader to cry with a deeper earnestness than heretofore,
"Lord, teach us to pray" (Luke 11:1).