The Immutability of God Part Two

“I most certainly agree with the immutability of God. However, if we cannot "change God's mind", then why do we pray? I am confident that God is in control of everything, and knows what will happen before it happens. Yet, in prayer we ask Him for things. If our prayers do nothing to change what is already destined to happen, then why pray? In the parable of the persistent widow (Luke 18:1-8), Jesus tells the disciples to pray constantly and not give up. Doesn't this parable imply that our petitions can "change God's mind?" Since God knows/controls the future (and knows, therefore, what we will ask Him for and what His answwer will be), I agree that the phrase "change His mind" is not really applicable. How would you explain what effect our prayers have on God considering the immutability of God?”

Carl
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Well Carl, you bring up such an excellent question that I decided to devote an entire post to it. If God can’t change his mind, then what’s the use of praying? First of all, just let me say that prayer is a powerful mystery that I by no means can fully comprehend, but as I’ve heard Andy Stanley say, in our culture we want a backpack god. We want a god we can carry around and pull out when times get rough or when we think we need him in our lives. In other words, we want a god we can control. But that’s not how God operates; yet that is exactly what is so wonderful about our God!!! He does not operate by the ways of man! No! God is infinite, outside of time and space. Instead of trying to control God through our prayers, we should humbly submit all our hopes and dreams, all our wants and desires before His throne and allow Him to control our lives! We pray because we do not know the mind of God. And because we don’t know the mind of God, we have to plead with God that He might reveal His will so that we might understand His plans. Revelation, according to Dr. Elmer Towns, is “The act whereby God gives us knowledge about Himself which we could not otherwise know.” Thus, when we pray, we are asking God to share new information with us that, apart from His divine intervention, we would never know; we are asking Him to reveal His will to us.


I agree that prayer is a powerful thing, and that God responds to our prayers. However, this goes back to our view of how God responds to us when we pray. When we pray, it’s important to remember that our prayers don’t alter what God has determined in His Sovereignty. Rather it is man, through the process of much prayer and study, who changes his mind and decides to do God’s will (Exodus 3-4). Thus, prayer does not change God, though sometimes it may seem as though it does; man changes. Man is the one who alters His course to accomplish the will of God. For example, when we repent of our sin and ask for God’s forgiveness, God doesn’t change, man does. Other times, it appears as though God has changed His mind when He is really showing His mercy; such as in Jonah 3 and Exodus 32. Still other times we pray because we don’t know what God’s will is in certain situations!


I’ll give you an example. Let’s say that someone you know has just been diagnosed with cancer. The doctors say that this individual only has a few weeks left to live. In response to this, you ask members of your church to gather together to pray that God would preserve this person’s life. A week later, the person diagnosed with cancer goes back for surgery. But when the doctor goes in to perform the surgery, he discovers that all the cancer has disappeared.


It seems as though God changed His plans because of your prayers and decided to let this person live. But consider this; it was you who chose to beseech God that this person might live. God knew you would come before Him and ask that He preserve this person’s life. It was God’s WILL that you come broken hearted before His throne, and in obedience you submitted to His sovereign authority by accomplishing His WILL. What I’m trying to say is that when man prays, he is not changing God’s mind. Instead, in reverence, he is tuning his wants, his desires, and his plans, to God’s. And when we do that, we enjoy wonderful communion and fellowship with Him.


Now, you might be wondering, “But if I hadn’t prayed, would this person still have died?” I think not. God’s gonna do what He’s gonna do. It’s up to us to submit to His will. If, instead of choosing to obey God, you decided not to do as God asked, God would have found another willing servant through whom His will would have been accomplished. But just think about what you would have missed! If you had not tuned your will with God’s, you would have missed out on an incredible experience. Instead of being the instrument through whom God accomplished His plans, you would have taken a seat in the bleachers; as you watched God accomplish his will through another willing servant.


Remember, we serve God (Ephesians 6:5-9)! He does not serve us, nor are we His master! The master does not serve the servant; rather, the servant serves the master. And as the servant, he must constantly submit his will to that of his master’s. When the master does not get what he wants from one servant, he will get another willing servant to fulfill the duty. An example of what the master/servant relationship looks like is seen in a parable Jesus tells in Luke 20:9-12.
In the same way, we serve God. God does not sit on His throne while His people are praying and say, “I have a royal change of mind! Scratch my old plan; I think we should make another.” If there was room for this in God’s nature then Jesus could have decided at last minute that He would not go to the cross. Even though Christ, as a man, possessed temptability,(Matthew 26:36-46), he could not sin. God is love (1 John 4:8), but if God can change His mind then His love is subject to change. He might love you one day and hate you the next. But we know that God’s love is unconditional. You see? To claim that God changes His mind makes every other character trait and attribute we know of God to be subject to change. As I said in my original post, a perfect God cannot make a bad plan. That would mean He is imperfect. And if God is imperfect then why should we believe anything else God says, because it could be subject to change? God is the same yesterday and today and forever.


Thank you so much for your insightful comment Carl! I truly hope this is helpful :)

In Christ,
Josh