THE SOVEREIGNTY OF GOD AND PRAYER
John Piper
January, 1976
I am often asked, "If you believe God works all things according
to the counsel of his will (Ephesians 1:11) and that his knowlege of all
things past, present, and future is infallible, then what is the point of
praying that anything happen?" Usually this question is asked in
relation to human decision: "If God has predestined some to be his sons
and chosen them before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4,5),
then what's the point in praying for anyone's conversion?"
The implicit argument here is that if prayer is to be possible at all man
must have the power of self-determination. That is, all man's decisions
must ultimately belong to himself, not God. For otherwise he is
determined by God and all his decisions are really fixed in God's eternal
counsel. Let's examine the reasonableness of this argument by reflecting
on the example cited above.
1. "Why pray for anyone's conversion if God has chosen before the
foundation of the world who will be his sons?" A person in need of
conversion is "dead in trespasses and sins" (Ephesians 2:1); he is
"enslaved to sin" (Romans 6:17; John 8:34); "the god of this world has
blinded his mind that he might not see the light of the gospel of the
glory of Christ" (II Corinthians 4:4); his heart is hardened against God
(Ephesians 4:18) so that he is hostile to God and in rebellion against
God's will (Romans 8:7).
Now I would like to turn the question back to my questioner: If you
insist that this man must have the power of ultimate self-determination,
what is the point of praying for him? What do you want God to do for
Him? You can't ask that God overcome the man's rebellion, for rebellion
is precisely what the man is now choosing, so that would mean God
overcame his choice and took away his power of self-determination. But
how can God save this man unless the acts so as to change the man's hear
from hard hostility to tender trust?
Will you pray that God enlighten his mind so that he truly see the beauty
of Christ and believe? If you pray this, you are in effect asking God no
longer to leave the determination of the man's will in his own power.
You are asking God to do something within the man's mind (or heart) so
that he will surely see and believe. That is, you are conceding that the
ultimate determination of the man's decision to trust Christ is
God's, not merely his.
What I am saying is that it is not the doctrine of God's sovereignty
which thwarts prayer for the conversion of sinners. On the contrary, it
is the unbiblical notion of self-determination which would consistently
put an end to all prayers for the lost. Prayer is a request that God do
something. If you insist that he retain his self-determination, then you
are insisting that he remain without Christ. For "no one can come to
Christ unless it is given from the Father" (John 6:65, 44).
Only the person who rejects human self-determination can consistently
pray for God to save the lost. My prayer for unbelievers is that God
will do for them what He did for Lydia: He opened her heart so that
she gave heed to what Paul said (Acts 16:14). I will pray that God
, who once said, "Let there be light!", will by that same creative
power "shine in their hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the
glory of God in the face of Christ" (II Corinthians 4:6). I will pray
that He will "take out their heart of stone and give them a heart of
flesh" (Ezekiel36:26). I will pray that they be born not of the will of
the flesh nor of the will of man but of God (John 1:13). And
with all my praying I will try to "be kind and to teach and correct with
gentleness and patience, if perhaps God may grant them repentance
and freedom for Satan's snare" (II Timothy 2:24-26).
In short, I do not ask God to sit back and wait for my neighbor to decide
to change. I do not suggest to God that He keep his distance lest his
beauty become irresistable and violate my neighbor's power of
self-determination. No! I pray that he ravish my unbelieving neighbor
with his beauty, that he unshackle the enslaved will, that he make the
dead alive and that he suffer no resistance to stop him lest my neighbor
perish.
2. If someone now says, "O.K., granted that a person's conversion is
ultimately determined by God, I still don't see the point of prayer. If
God chose before the foundation of the world who would be converted, what
function does your prayer have?" My answer is that is has a function
like that of preaching: How shall the lost believe in whom they have not
heard, and how shall they hear without a preacher, and how shall they
preach unless they are sent (Roman 10:14f.)? Belief in Christi is a gift
of God (John 6:65; II Timothy 2:25; Ephesinas 2:8), but God has ordained
that the means by which men believe on Jesus is through the preaching of
men. It is simply naive to say that if no one spread the gospel all
those predestined to be sons of god (Ephesians 1:5) would be converted
anyway. The reason this is naive is because it overlooks the fact that
the preaching of the gospel is just as predestined as is the
believing of the gospel: Paul was set apart for his preaching
ministry before he was born (Galatians 1:15), as was Jeremiah (Jeremiah
1:5). Therefore, to ask, "If we don't evangelize, will the elect be
saved?" is like asking, "If there is no predestination, will the
predestined be saved?" God know those who are his and he will riase up
messengers to win them. If someone refuses to be a part of that plan,
because he dislikes the idea of being tampered with before he was born,
then he will be the loser, not God and not the elect. "You will
certainly carry out God's purpose however you act but it makes a
difference to you whether you serrve like Judas or John." (C.S. Lewis,
Problem of Pain chapter 7, Anthology , p. 910, cf p.
80)
Prayer is like preaching in that is a human act also. It is a human act
that God has ordained and which he delights in because it reflects the
dependence of his creatures upon Him. He has promised to repond to
prayer, and his response is just as contingent upon our prayer as our
prayer is in accordance with his will. "And this is the confidence which
we have before Him, that if we ask anything according to His will
, He hears us" (I John 5:14). When we don't know how to pray
according to God will but desire it earnestly, "the Spirit of God
intercedes for us according to the will of God " (Romans
8:27).
In other words, just as God will see to it that His Word is proclaimed as
a means to saving the elect, so He will see to it that all those prayers
are prayed which he has promised to respond to. I think Paul's words in
Romans 15:18 would apply equally well to his preaching and his praying
ministry: "I will not presume to speak of anything except what Christ has
accomplished thourhg me, resulting in the obedience of the Gentiles."
Even our prayers are a gift from the one who "works in us that which is
pleasing in his sight" (Hebrews 13:21). Oh, how grateful we should be
that He has chosen us to be emplyed in this high service! How eager we
should be to spend much time in prayer!
Go back to Contend for the Faith.
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