Interacting With Providence Through Prayer

It is helpful, and proper, to interact with providence through prayer. God has created us to think and reason and respond. With creative minds, an aspect of His image that we possess in a finite way, we are expected to think about life as it happens. It is with our minds that we engage in relationships. Relationship with our fellow created humanity, and fellowship with our Creator.

It is true that God is sovereign. It is true that God’s will is determinative. If God wills a matter, the matter will be. He has clearly informed us that He does whatever He pleases and that none can stop Him from accomplishing what He has determined (Psalm 115:3; Daniel 4:34,35). This is providence: God ruling over that which He has created. This is why the Apostle Paul spoke of doing certain things, if God will (Acts 18:21). James also teaches us that we should say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that.

Yet, it is clear from numerous Biblical examples, recording for our learning, that God wants us relating to providence, not simply accepting it. Oh, it is true that we should accept God’s providence. With Job, we should say in the face of disaster: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD. Jesus taught us to pray, not my will, but thine be done. We should always prefer the will of our all-wise, loving heavenly Father to our own will. His plan is perfect. We should never charge God with unrighteousness.

Yet, I repeat, God has clearly demonstrated through examples left for our instruction that He wants us approaching Him with reason and petitions that may argue against what it may seem providence has ordained. Case in point: the account of Elijah who intercedes on behalf of the widow woman who has tragically lost her son to a devastating sickness. The account is found in 1 Kings 17:17-24.

Elijah’s response to the grieving mother and the dead child is not a cold-hearted, calculated theological answer. He seems stunned by the news of his death. He takes the child to his room. It seems like he is attempting to collect himself and determine just what to do. He doesn’t simply chalk it up to providence. He doesn’t react as if there is nothing that can be done: “Providence has spoken. We must bow to God’s will and trust Him to help us through the grieving process.” This, in fact, may be the conclusion that he ultimately would come to, but that is not where he began.

Elijah, burdened that perhaps what was obviously the providence of God to that point was not the final word, cried unto the LORD. He prayed fervently. He reasoned with God, asking if this evil that was brought upon the widow woman’s son was really what He intended. Elijah was not convinced that this was the end of God’s providence in this case. He sensed that this was something he should cry out to God to correct or to change. He cries out for the soul of the child to return to his body.

Incredibly, Scripture clearly reveals this event to us in such a way that we are left encouraged that all is not simply sealed in some dark, cold fate. And the LORD heard the voice of Elijah! He heard him and responded by returning the soul of the child! The freedom of God’s will in providence was not violated. He is the One who chose to hear and respond to Elijah. There are other instances, such as David praying for the life of his sick and dying child, in which God’s will was the death of the child.

The lesson, for the purpose of this blog entry, is simply this: do not give up too quickly and easily in the face of hard providences. Cry out to the Lord, if your heart is so burdened to do so. Who knows but that your fervent prayer may be exactly what God intends in the process of carrying out His will. His providence may have brought hard things. His providence may include answering your fervent prayer. So, interact with God’s providence through prayer.

Ultimately, we must be satisfied with whatever God chooses to do in answer to our cries. This is the response of faith. This is the response of all who are convinced that God does what is best in response to the cries of His children. Our God is not a cold, inanimate force! He is the living God Who seeks worshippers.