Why Pray If God Is Sovereign?

Today's question is a thoughtful one. It's one that I went back and forth over myself a number of years ago

And I think for a lot of Christians who are trying to be thoughtful about their walk with God This is a question for them.

So let's get into it Thanks very much for watching this video.

My name is Nate Sala. I'm the president of wise disciple Which is a Christian nonprofit organization dedicated to living effectively as Christ followers in today's culture

I'm also a pastor in my local church here in Las Vegas So every now and then I get questions about theology apologetics and engaging the culture for Christ and I invite those questions

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Well, let me just say right off the bat that I understand where this question is coming from Because if you look at these two theological pieces, you know on the one hand sovereignty, right?

God's sovereignty and on the other hand prayer And you understand a little bit about what they both mean.

Well, then it seems like there's a problem Okay, take God's sovereignty. For example, what God's sovereignty means is that he is in control of every single facet of existence

Nothing happens without his either direct action or indirect allowance Acts chapter 17 verse 25 reveals some of this when it says and he made from one man every nation of mankind

To live on all the face of the earth having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place

And again in isaiah 45 7 god says about himself. I form light and create darkness

I make well -being and create calamity. I am the lord who does all these things

But if we really let that sink in and we take it seriously, then we can't say that god is taken by surprise

Or that he is frustrated because something he tried to accomplish failed if those things actually happened

Then he wouldn't be god and to suggest that about god is to believe that he is not sovereign Now there are some folks in the church who believe that god does not know the future and therefore he can be

Surprised these people are called open theists But that's a separate issue for another episode because I don't believe open theism is biblical

So god is in control because he is sovereign and there's two ways to think of it along these lines

Number one god is omniscient. So he knows all things including the future He knows what will take place five minutes five days 500 years from now

He knows all of that. It's part of his divine attributes But god is also omnipotent, which means he is powerful enough to accomplish all things

Now some of my more logically minded friends out there are probably raising an eyebrow and thinking to themselves You mean all things that are logically possible nate?

Yeah, that's what i'm saying It is not possible for god to create a married bachelor because that's incoherent

It's like trying to say The people who love jungle cruise have good taste in movies too soon

So then having established god's sovereignty and taking it for granted because the scripture teaches it the obvious question then is

Why ask god for anything? He's already predetermined everything in advance far before I was born far before the world was formed

He already knew all these things. He already ordained them And again, I understand where this question is coming from, you know that that the question makes sense to me

But here are a couple of things to consider because I think a couple of pieces need to intersect in order to get at The answer to this particular question number one god is personally concerned about his people now this right here should completely give us pause

Because we're not talking about the president of an organization that we admire Or a celebrity that makes all the movies that we like We're talking about the creator of the entire universe and everything in it a being that can bring into existence things that were not

Simply by speaking it He can tell mountains to move He can turn water aside.

He is the most powerful and infinitely worthy being Ever and he is personally concerned about his people imagine

I mean this will be you know different for a guy than for a girl, but imagine the most beautiful woman

Uh, you've ever seen uh, imagine the most beautiful man or woman you can possibly imagine and add to that They are the most popular celebrity for whatever reason in the whole world

And they walk into a room crowded with people just jam -packed full of people

And they walk right by everyone and they come and sit down next to you And they look you directly in the eyes and just start talking to you and calling you by name

And and wanting to genuinely spend time with you. How would that make you feel? It'd be a tremendous honor, you know,

I remember the first time I met a celebrity It was chris cornell from soundgarden I was working at the hard rock hotel and I got to spend time with him and check him into the hotel late night

Uh, and we were chatting and getting to know each other It was an amazing experience for me because I grew up listening to soundgarden when

I was a teenager And now here I am face to face with the lead singer of soundgarden It was an awesome feeling now just extrapolate that out to infinity because the creator of the universe who is infinitely more worthy than chris cornell or The most beautiful celebrity that you can possibly imagine that god is personally concerned about you

He wants to hear from you He wants to know you and he wants you to know him

But how does that happen through prayer? Now, let me acknowledge that god has the power to do whatever he wants and he doesn't need people to accomplish that All right.

He doesn't need anything because he is sufficient in and of himself to accomplish all things Okay, I just finished preaching a series

Well a portion of a series on colossians and one of the big takeaways from colossians one and two if you read that very closely

Is that jesus doesn't need our help jesus is all sufficient to accomplish all things

But that doesn't matter because god is still personally concerned about you So what i'm getting at here is to ask why do

I need to pray if god is sovereign is to have an incorrect perspective It treats god as if he were a vending machine because if you replace god with a vending machine

Then the question makes much more sense, doesn't it? If the vending machine is going to give me whatever it wants

Anyway, then why should I touch any of those buttons right? That's kind of how the question is being asked

But see that's the thing god is not a vending machine He's a person and all of this misses the wonderful privilege and blessing that comes from Knowing that the creator of the entire universe is personally concerned about his people

And even though he doesn't need our prayers. He still wants you to pray Because he wants to be personal with you

That's a big deal ladies and gentlemen And I think it shines a spotlight on the fact that prayer is a reflection of who god is and how he feels about us

That's the first thing now. The second thing is because god is personally concerned about his people Well, then his actions and our actions are not exclusive All right, in other words, it's it's not a situation where god is like way over here

You know determining all things and and then if we come along and we try to ask for something Then we're intervening or maybe even interfering in what god is determining.

That's that's not true God's determination what god ordains includes our prayers

Our prayers are part of what god is determining for the whole world And so to suggest that our prayers are not needed is to run up against god's attitudes about our prayers

Here's a perfect example of what i'm talking about Okay, ephesians chapter 2 verse 10 says for we are god's workmanship

Created in christ jesus for good works which god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them

What do you think is entailed in good works? prayer Prayer is part of the good works that god prepared beforehand that we should walk in them again to suggest that our prayers are not needed because god is

Sovereignly determining all things that ignores god's determining because along with everything else

He determined that we pray so to kind of flesh this out a little further I want to read to you an excerpt from christian theology by millard erickson now this is a wonderful systematic theology book that's written very easily and also very

Knowledgeably, I know a lot of people especially when I was in school I heard this a lot of people will say that well, you need wayne grudem's systematics

You know, you need that book on your bookshelf. I disagree I think you need erickson's on your shelf.

Anyway, here's what he says about god's sovereignty and prayer when jesus walked on the water in matthew 14

Peter asked to be bidden to go to jesus on the water and was enabled to do so Presumably jesus could have enabled all the disciples to walk on the water that day

But only peter did because only he asked the centurion bringing his request for the healing of a servant

In matthew chapter 8 and the woman with the hemorrhage in matthew chapter 9 Clinging to jesus garment are examples of faith which demonstrated in petition

Resulted in god's working when god wills the end in these cases Healing.

He also wills the means which includes a request to be healed which in turn presupposes faith

Thus prayer does not change what he has purposed to do. It is the means by which he accomplishes his end

It is vital then that a prayer be uttered for without it the desired result will not come to pass

This leads me to the last point and it really came through in that quote that I just read.

Okay, but here it is If you don't pray You won't receive Again, it's not that god is

Determining everything that he wants and so therefore his determining is exclusive from our praying no

Instead god is partnering with us Like millard erickson said where our prayers are an important part of the equation

Why because if we don't pray god will not answer, you know, maybe he purposes things to happen

Anyway, whether we pray or not, but friends, I think a lot of us are missing out on opportunities because we simply will not ask

All right, I think this is why james 4 2 says you do not have because you do not ask

Dr. Craig hazen who is a professor at viola? We had him on the audio podcast a couple years ago

Still one of my all -time favorite interviews on mormonism You should definitely go back into the archives and check it out.

You can find all that stuff on all your podcast apps there But dr. Hazen wrote a book called fearless prayer recently and in it.

He says that there is a stigma Surrounding asking god for things in prayer, especially asking god for things that are not what he calls mission critical

But he goes on to say that we should ask anyway because god enjoys Blessing us with good gifts in the same way a father enjoys giving special gifts to his children

And also because prayer is accompanied by other spiritual disciplines that all lead to sanctification

And maturity in the spirit think about it prayer is usually accompanied with what?

bible study and reflection thanksgiving worship confession of sin

Perhaps fasting all of these things are disciplines that not only enhance the christian's walk with god

It also enhances prayer itself. It's all interconnected So all of these pieces intersect in a way that give us

I think a different perspective on prayer in light of god's sovereignty All right, and I think it should encourage us not because we should expect god to give us everything we ask for But because in spite of the fact that god has no needs

He still desires us to pray with him Which is a vital component of his determinations in the world around us.

What are your thoughts about prayer? Do you agree with me? Do you disagree? Let me know in the comments below I'd love to keep the conversation going in the meantime.

Thank you so much for the question I was glad to answer it stay tuned for more videos including a brand new debate teacher reacts coming very soon