a call to spiritual reformation

Perhaps the most startling passages that mingle God's sovereignty and God's personhood are those that speak of God relenting. While Moses is on Mount Sinai receiving the tables of the law, the children of Israel succumb to the terrible idolatry of the golden calf. God is furious: "I have seen these people... and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation" (Exodus 32:9-10).

But Moses simply will not "leave God alone". The arguments in his intercession are remarkable, appealing to God both as the Sovereign and as the supreme personal Deity. Moses argues that if God carries through with this plan of destruction, the Egyptians will sneer that the Israelite God is malicious and that he led his people into the desert to destroy them. At the same time, Moses reminds God of his own sovereign promises: "Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self [for there is none higher by whom to swear]: 'I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and I will give your descendants all this land I promised them, and it will be their inheritance forever'" (32:12). In other words, if God destroys his people, will he not be breaking his own promises? How can a faithful God do that? In Moses' eyes, this is not an argument for pietistic fatalism - simply trust the promises of God and everything will work out - but for intercession. So Moses comes to the point: "Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people" (32:12).

"Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened" (32:14).

A casual reader might be tempted to say, "See? God does change his mind. His purposes are not sovereign and steadfast. Prayer does change things because it changes the mind of God."

But such a conclusion would be both one-sided and premature. If God had not relented in his declared purpose to destroy the children of Israel, then, paradoxically, he would have proved fickle with respect to the firm promises he gave to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. On the other hand, if God is to remain faithful to the promises made to the patriarchs, then, as Moses realises, God cannot destroy the Israelites, and he must therefore turn from the judgment he has pronounced against Israel. It is that very point Moses is banking on as he prays.

We gain additional insight into God's relenting when we compare the prayers of Amos, a true prophet of God, with the prayerlessness of false prophets. Amos learns of God's threatening judgments against the people, and he passionately intercedes on their behalf: "I cried out, 'Sovereign LORD, forgive! How can Jacob survive? He is so small!'" (Amos 7:2). Amos's prayer proves effective. Twice we are told, "So the LORD relented" (7:3, 6). By contrast, God berates the false prophets of Israel precisely because they do not intercede for the people. "You have not gone up to the breaks in the wall to repair it for the house of Israel [an idiom that means they have not interceded with God on behalf of the people] so that it will stand firm in the battle on the day of the LORD" (Ezekiel 13:5). No one was seriously interceding with God: "I looked for a man among them who would build up the wall and stand before me in the gap on behalf of the land so I would not have to destroy it, but I found none. So I will pour out my wrath on them and consume them with my fiery anger, bringing down on their own heads all they have done, declares the Sovereign LORD" (Ezekiel 2:30-31).

The extraordinary importance of these passages must not be missed. God expects to be pleaded with; he expects godly believers to intercede with him. Their intercession is his own appointed means for bringing about his relenting, and if they fail in this respect, then he does not relent and his wrath is poured out. If we understand something similar to have happened in the life of Moses, we must conclude that Moses is effective in prayer not in the sense that God would have broken his covenant promises to the patriarchs, nor in the sense that God temporarily lost his self-control until Moses managed to bring God back to his senses. Rather, in God's mercy Moses proved to be God's own appointed means, through intercessory prayer, for bringing about the relenting that was nothing other than a gracious confirmation of the covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

The really wonderful truth is that human beings like Moses and you and me can participate in bringing about God's purposes through God's own appointed means. In that limited sense, prayer certainly changes things; it cannot be thought to change things in some absolute way that catches God out.

- D. A. Carson, A Call to Spiritual Reformation

in one sense, prayer does not change things. God does not change things based on how He foresees we will pray. in another sense, prayer changes things. God changes things based on how we actually pray. however, prayer cannot both not change and change things in the same respect and at the same time.

prayer does not change things for God

just because prayer does not change things for God does not mean that prayer does not change things for us. (non-moderate) calvinism starts with the premise that prayer does not change things for God and holds that prayer does not change things (but only our illusion of things) for us. however, if prayer does not change things (but only our illusion of things) for us, then there is no point in praying or not praying.

prayer changes things for us

at the same time, just because prayer changes things for us does not mean that it changes things for God. (non-classical) arminianism starts with the premise that prayer changes things for us and holds that prayer changes things for God. however, if prayer changes things for God, then God is not sovereign and promises like 'you may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it' (John 14:14, NIV) ring hollow.

grace is unconditionally given by God and conditionally received by man. likewise, prayer does not change things for God and changes things for us.

chosen but free

that we - together with our prayers (or lack of them) - are chosen from all eternity does not mean that our prayers (or lack of them) are not freely made. indeed, our prayers (or lack of them) are freely made.

that we - together with our prayers (or lack of them) - are chosen from all eternity means that God, acting from all eternity, has chosen to create this particular world (out of an infinite number of possible worlds) in which our prayers (or lack of them) work 'for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV).

"For you will certainly carry out God's purpose, however you act, but it makes a difference to you whether you serve like Judas or like John." - C.S. Lewis, The Problem of Pain

apart from this particular world, there are no other possible worlds in which our prayers (or lack of them) work 'for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose' (Romans 8:28, NIV).

if any other possible world could reflect God's glory more than this particular world, then God would have chosen to create that other possible world instead. indeed, if not creating a world at all could reflect God's glory more than creating this particular world, then God would have chosen not to create a world at all instead.

nevertheless, God did not create the world out of the need to love. God 'is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by hands. And he is not served by human hands, as if he needed anything, because he himself gives all men life and breath and everything else' (Acts 17:24-25, NIV). God created the world out of the abundance of love between the Father and the Son, expressed in the Spirit.

in one sense, infinity + 1 is still infinity. in another sense, infinity + 1 is greater than infinity. in one sense, God is as infinitely glorious after creating the world as before. in another sense, God is infinitely more glorious after creating the world than before.