June 10, 2022
This coming Sunday morning I'll be continuing our series through Elijah's ministry as a prophet of God to the northern tribes of Israel, looking at I Kings 18:41-46. It's an odd story of "the running prophet," and one of the themes of the text is that of prayer. Soon after becoming a Calvinist, I read the very helpful book by Doug Kelly titled If God Already Knows, Why Pray? - perhaps you've wondered the same question. If God has sovereignly ordained whatsoever comes to pass, if He works all things after the counsel of His will (Ephesians 1:11), if He "declares the end from the beginning" (Isaiah 46:10), then what's the point of prayer? Will it really change anything? Yet God commands us and encourages us to pray. Does this seem strange to you?
Part of the reason God tells us to pray is that prayer is not only supplication, it is first and foremost communion with Him - if we believe that through the finished work of Christ we have been reconciled to God, and have a relationship with God, and know God, then it only follows that we would want to talk to our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend. But as we'll see Sunday morning, the Bible also teaches us that God has ordained prayer as the channel through which He brings the blessings He has ordained to give. His sovereignty does not negate our responsibility; His decree does not make unnecessary our actions. We see this in many ways throughout Scripture in areas unrelated to prayer. For instance, Peter can say that Jesus was "delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God" and at the same time He can hold the Jews and Romans responsible for their putting Him to death - "you crucified and killed [Him] by the hands of lawless men" (Acts 2:23; see also Acts 4:24-28). Paul can tell his shipmates during the storm on his journey to Rome that, based on the direct revelation of God to him, "there will be no loss of life among you" - and then several days later he can declare to the soldiers accompanying him that "unless [the sailors who were trying to escape] stay in the ship, you cannot be saved" (Acts 27:22, 31). Which one is it, Paul? The answer is that it's both. God is sovereign, yet He uses means to accomplish His plans.
And prayer is one of the chief means He has ordained to fulfill His sovereign purposes. If that were not true, how could Paul write in II Corinthians 1:11, "You must also help us by prayer, so that many will give thanks on our behalf for the blessing granted us through the prayers of many"? How could James write in James 4:2, "You do not have because you do not ask"? We could multiply references. And yet to my shame, I must confess that too often my belief in the sovereignty of God leads me not to prayerfulness, but to prayerlessness. I am prone to presume upon the providence of God, to take for granted the power of God, to act like a functional Hyper-Calvinist, assuming "If God wants that to happen, He'll ensure that it happens, and I don't need to worry about praying for it to happen" - forgetting that He has revealed in His word that if He wants something to happen He ordinarily makes use of the prayers of His people to bring it about. As we have seen and will see again through Elijah's life, "The effective prayer of a righteous man can accomplish much" (James 5:16) - because God has ordained not only the end but also the means to that end. And we and our prayers are the means to His ends.
So whether it is the salvation of your children or friends, your sanctification, a change in your circumstances, your daily bread, the growth of the church and the spread of the gospel, or the coming of Jesus' Kingdom, don't grow weary in praying. Don't grow apathetic toward the power and utility of prayer. Don't grow lazy in prayer. Even when God's answers are slow in coming, or when He keeps answering with a "Not right now," persist in prayer (Luke 18:1), labor earnestly in prayer (Colossians 4:12), and be devoted to prayer (Romans 12:12).
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We started a new sermon series on II Peter this past Sunday night. If you haven't been in the habit of closing out the Lord's Day in corporate worship, I strongly encourage you to take this summer to form a new Sabbath habit. Especially if you have children, and the fact that Monday is a school day has been one of your main excuses, the summer is a great time to create new grooves for growing in grace and knowledge of Christ (as Peter will exhort us at the end of II Peter!). It's also a wonderful time for your 2nd-6th grade children to study The Young Peacemaker. We've actually been working our way through this workbook recently during our family worship, and I've been struck that the content is so vital even for adults. For example, we just read about the four promises of forgiveness. God forgives us even though we don't deserve it and haven't earned it. He calls us to forgive others just as He in Christ has forgiven us (Ephesians 4:32). So what does it mean to forgive someone? It means that you promise will think good thoughts about the one who sinned against you and do good to them; that you will not bring up this situation and use it against them; that you will not talk to others about what they did; and that you will be friends with them again. If your family is like mine, you desperately need forgiveness and reconciliation to be taking place day by day. And not just between your children! Join me in praying (see above!) that our Sunday evening services will be overflowing with God's people, young and old, who desire to grow in the knowledge of God and in all godliness, and with unbelievers who will be transformed by truth and grace together with us.