Why Pray in Light of God's Sovereignty? Overview

This week we will be considering a question I have honestly wrestled with for a few decades now...If God is absolutely Sovereign, why pray?  In other words, if God will simply do what He wants to anyway, why offer prayers of petition and intercession? Why bother requesting that God do such and such when everything has been ordained by Him beforehand? If prayer consists of pleading with God to change His eternal purposes, isn’t such an undertaking feeble at best and arrogant at worst? Although there are no easy answers to these questions, Scripture is not silent on this issue. My purpose here is to examine the Bible’s teaching on the Sovereignty of God and the prayers of man with the goal of answering the question:

Why pray in light of God's absolute sovereignty?

First of all, let's define what "sovereign" means.  According to Websters Dictionary, "sovereign" means "one possessing or held to possess supreme political power or sovereignty, one that exercises supreme authority."  As we will see below, the Bible is crystal clear about this issue--God IS absolutely sovereign.
When people make plans, it is not uncommon for those plans to fail or to be thwarted in one way or another. In contrast to His creatures, however, Almighty God always brings about that which He has purposed. In a word, God is Sovereign. This Truth is perhaps most clearly seen in the words of Isaiah 46:9-11, where
God demonstrated His superiority over the Babylonian idols by declaring:

9 Remember the former things of old: for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and 
there is none like me, 
10 Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet 
done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure: 
11 Calling a ravenous bird from the east, the man that executeth my counsel from a far 
country: yea, I have spoken it, I will also bring it to pass; I have purposed it, I will also do 
it. 

In this passage, God indicates that He both purposes what He desires to happen and then actually brings those purposes to pass. In other words- God providentially brings about in time and history what He has sovereignly ordained in eternity past. As the Apostle Paul writes, God “works all things after the counsel of His will” (Ephesians 1:11). The truth of God’s sovereignty over His creation is taught throughout
Scripture. The psalmist declares,

Psalms 115:3
But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased.

Psalms 135:6
Whatsoever the LORD pleased, that did he in heaven, and in earth, in the seas, and all deep
places.

Proverbs 19:21 states,
There are many devices in a man's heart; nevertheless the counsel of the LORD, that shall
stand.

and Proverbs 21:1 states,
The king's heart is a stream of water in the hand of the Lord; he turns it wherever he will.

This is just a sampling of Scripture, but as I stated before, the Bible leaves NO doubt that God IS absolutely sovereign over past, present, and future, and over all His creation.  So, for the next week or so, we will be visiting the question of WHY we should pray, as believers, in light of God's sovereignty.  Join me, will you? Your prayer life and your faith might just depend upon it!

**Please note: This prayer series must be credited to Dr. Matt Waymeyer and his postings on the subject.  Dr. Waymeyer is an Instructor of Bible Exposition and New Testament at Master's Seminary.  I have reread his teachings on the subject of prayer and God's sovereignty for several years now and they continue to inform and bless my prayer life.  Prior to posting this series, I have emailed Dr. Waymeyer and received his complete permission to use his material in any way that I might find helpful for this blog. **