On several occasions I have been asked: What’s the point of praying, Dan? God is sovereign, so He is going to do whatever He wants to do anyhow, right?
My answer:
First of all, I think it’s important for us to acknowledge that there are plenty of aspects of prayer that we do not completely understand. So, this is a subject that should be approached with humility. In light of what we DON”T know, it would be rash to quickly dismiss prayer with the two simple questions mentioned above.
In a way, I feel hesitant to even attempt to address the questions. But since they have come up a number of times, recently, I’m going to humbly take a shot at it. This certainly is not a definitive answer to the questions (I don’t have that) but hopefully this will provide some thoughts to consider.
1) We do not have a full understanding of how or why our prayers affect God. Similarly, we do not know why certain prayers are answered in the way that we hoped they would be answered and others are not. We do not know the full extent of the influence of our prayers. We simply do not know. Some people may confidently assert that they do know these things, but I would suggest that anyone who thinks they fully understand how and why God answers prayers isn’t being honest about the magnitude and mystery of the issue.
We are definitely limited in this matter, however, we do know this: the Bible clearly teaches that our prayers do affect things. “The prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective.” James 5:16.
So, it is not accurate to say that God is “going to do whatever He wants to do anyhow…” and, therefore, our prayers are meaningless. Actually, our prayers are—or, can be—effective.
You say, “But wait a minute, isn’t God sovereign?”
Yes, He is.
Then how would our prayers have any affect over a sovereign God?
I don’t know. That’s why I began my answer by appealing to the idea that there are truths about prayer that we do not understand. But our lack of understanding does not mean we should not pray. It will not be helpful for us to wait until we “have God figured out” in order to pray or to relate with Him. Especially since we’re never going to have God “figured out”…at least not on this side of eternity. He’s too big. He’s beyond us. "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways," declares the LORD. Isaiah 55:8
Nevertheless, it is fair to say that our prayers do have an effect. The fact that we can’t answer all the puzzling questions related to the effectiveness of prayer does not mean we shouldn’t pray. Pray anyhow. Believe anyhow. Trust God anyhow.
2) There is a flaw inherent in the questions. If you will notice, the questions make the assumption that “praying” is solely about making requests of God. The questions suggest that God will do whatever He wants to do and…[watch this]…therefore, the entire act of prayer is pointless. Do you see how the sole reason for prayer, according to the questions, is getting God to do something?
The assumption built into the questions is: if we can not get God to do something then, obviously, prayer is pointless.
But what if there is more to prayer than just making requests of God? Would prayer still be pointless?
Now, actually, we all know that making requests of God is a legitimate aspect of prayer. I’m not denying that truth. The Bible clearly describes prayer as communication with God that involves making requests of Him. But making requests is not the ONLY aspect of prayer. There are other aspects of prayer such as: thanking God, praising God, listening to God, confessing sins to God, and even, just, being silent in the presence of God.
From a strictly logical standpoint, we could say this: Even if God never granted a request, that would not necessarily render prayer pointless, because there are other reasons for prayer besides making requests.
[Please note: I am emphatically NOT saying that God will never grant requests or that it would be a good thing if He did not grant our requests. I’m simply putting forth the point that making requests of God is not the ONLY important aspect of prayer.]
3) God says to pray. We don’t always understand how or why certain requests are answered or not answered in the way we had hoped. I freely admit that there are mysteries about prayer that are far beyond me. However, we should pray because God says to pray. In fact, for followers of Christ, this response can stand alone as a reason to continue praying: because God says so. Over and over again the scriptures call us to prayer. So, if we believe in God and we trust that the Bible is His word, then we should pray, even though we don’t fully understand everything about it.
“And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” Eph.6:18
Blessings,
Dan
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