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THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD
By Arthur W. Pink
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).
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