Sovereignty, Omniscience, and Prayer (or why prayer probably doesn't work that way you think it does)

I recently wrote a research paper for my theology class examining the relationship and interaction between God's sovereignty, omniscience, and prayer, or, more simply put, answering the question, "Why do we pray?".

I was first acutely confronted with articulating my thoughts on this issue while in India this past summer when I engaged in a great discussion with my friend Ashley, one of the woman on our team, about the nature and purpose of prayer. She, like many Christians, had a very simple understanding of prayer. I don't mean this as condescending, just as an observation and way to establish the starting point from which our exploration began. I have discovered that many Christians will create or accept a simple theological understanding of a complex issue without following through its implications to their logical conclusion. I have come to view every idea as a domino that will inevitably come into contact with other dominoes of ideas; if these dominoes all collapse, where will they end up? If that destination does not match Scripture, I must reevaluate where I have placed my domino.

In this example, the starting point is that God must answer prayers. This is fair enough, and, I would say, not inherently false given a proper understanding of what "to answer" means. The trouble is that people get as far as, "I pray and then God does what I ask Him to do because I asked Him" without following that through to see how it affects the idea of God's omniscience (foreknowledge) and sovereignty (control over all things). The trouble with God doing something just because we prayed about it implicitly implies that God did not know prior to our prayer what action He was going to carry out and we have just inadvertently destroyed omniscience and shrunk God into something much smaller and more impotent than a Scriptural understanding of God. This is loosely known as open theism, a borderline (if not outright) heretical theology that forces God into the box of linear history and accuses Him of being unable to know events that have yet to transpire (for us). They believe that our prayers affect God as much if not more than His own will does. The hubris of such a statement is mind boggling to me! The fundamental presupposition of this type of claim is tantamount to accusing God of, in some scenario, being less [loving, wise, insightful, interactive, etc.] than His creation (humans). Follow that thought through: God intends to carry out plan "X", yet this does not please [person] who prays fervently and faithfully for God to ameliorate His decision and acquiesce to plan "Y", which [person] has conceived to be the better option. God, in His humility, realizes the error of His ways, kicks Himself (anthropomorphically, of course) for not having thought of this far superior plan on His own, and changes His plan to fall into our wise[r] advice. Is there anything more absurd than this anthropocentric view of our relationship with God? Meanwhile, Copernicus is calling to remind us that we're still not the center of the universe!

Now we're stuck with the question, "If God already knows everything and what He's going to do, why bother praying?" This is a fair question and the impetus of my paper. We must learn to live in the dynamic tension that Scripture presents; the Bible clearly repeatedly commands us to pray (the word "pray" appears over 2,500 times in the Bible!). Jesus not only Himself prayed (Mark 1:35; John 17 - each example from Scripture will be one of the many rather than an exhaustive list of the pertinent verses and will focus on the New Testament, though my paper examines examples from the Old Testament as well) but taught us how to pray (Matthew 6:5-15); Paul speaks of his own prayer life (Philippians 1:3-5) as well as commanding us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17); James tells us the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working (James 5:16). So how do we understand these passages in relation to the teachings in Scripture that God foreordains events (Ephesians 1:3-6) while not falling into the trap of determinism that dismantles human free will and thus moral responsibility (Romans 1:28-32)?

I would agree with the wisdom of Bonhoeffer (among many other godly theologians who fall into the category known as classical theism) that prayer is designed to change us, not God. We pray because God has decided to gift us with the joy of taking part in His plan, His will, His presence... When we pray we enter into God's courts and slowly, through sanctification, become more like Him. As we become more like Him we pray within His established will (Matthew 26:39-42) as well as carry out His will on earth as it already is in heaven (Matthew 6:10).

The doctrine of prayer is an intensely complex issue that deserves the time and effort to wrestle with Scripture and come to a proper understanding of what the nature and purpose of prayer is. If you would like my thoughts on the issue, here is my paper, and I am always open to dialogue on my conclusions and I love to explore in community so feel free to contact me with questions/comments/etc.!

I pray that you are blessed by my offering and that God may use the time and effort I put into this work to bring you closer to Him for His glory alone.