Pray It Through - Changing God's Mind?

I had a very theologically stimulating conversation with a close friend the other night. We were discussing the purpose of prayer and its results. The concept of “changing God’s mind” was brought forth. Through study of some books by prestigious theologians, he was leaning toward the side that says “prayer can actually change God’s mind and change world events.” At the beginning of the conversation, my reply was that prayer absolutely changes world events—but does that take place because God truly changed His mind or because we took the action that allowed the realization of His greatest will, instead of disobedience? I did not know the answer to these questions, and I still may not, but I feel that my understanding has grown towards the revelation of these answers and I would like to encourage you to engage in your own Spirit-led thoughts as you consider mine below.

“God changed His mind” In the Bible

Consider Moses. We read the following in Exodus 32:19-14, in response to the Israelites' construction of the golden calf, an offense punishable by death:

“'I have seen these people,’ the LORD said to Moses, “and they are a stiff-necked people. ¹⁰ 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.”

But Moses sought the favor of the LORD his God. “O LORD,” he said, “why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? ¹² Why should the Egyptians say, ‘It was with evil intent that he brought them out, to kill them in the mountains and to wipe them off the face of the earth’? Turn from your fierce anger; relent and do not bring disaster on your people. ¹³ Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac and Israel, to whom you swore by your own self: ‘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.’” ¹⁴ Then the LORD relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened.” (NIV)

The word “relent” in verse 14 is translated in a minority of English texts as “changed His mind.” The Hebrew word here is “nacham,” in the Niphal tense, which blueletterbible.com defines as follows:

נָחַם (nacham)

1) to be sorry, console oneself, repent, regret, comfort, be comforted

a) (Niphal)

1) to be sorry, be moved to pity, have compassion

2) to be sorry, rue, suffer grief, repent

3) to comfort oneself, be comforted

4) to comfort oneself, ease oneself

(Note: When you read “changed His mind” in the NLT, NAS, or other version, “nacham” is likely the original language.)

So we see that God was moved to compassion by Moses’ intercession and it did absolutely change what would have occurred, had the intercession not taken place. But did God’s mind change, or was His preferred will for Moses to step up as an intercessor fulfilled by Moses’ prayer? Perhaps the jury is still out in this discussion, but I find the explanation offered in the previous sentences to line up much more harmoniously with the rest of the Bible than the belief that God actually did any changing of His mind, at least in the way that we experience the changing of our own minds—which is to be persuaded unto different thought or action. Was God persuaded here or had He already willed this and honored a prayer within His will?

Practical Importance of the Matter

As my conversation with my friend continued, we began to realize a few things: that our minds were not entirely made up and were open to further “proof” that may be brought forth, that in this moment we differed in our opinions, and most importantly that we absolutely agreed upon the following things: Regardless of whether God is actually changing His mind, it doesn’t alter the fact that prayer works—things in this world change because of and in response to our prayers. The overarching point became less about why God honors prayer (changing His mind or otherwise) but that the answer to that question does not dictate whether or not I pray—we pray because of the following:

1. It brings me closer to God in a loving relationship, and that would be sufficient enough reason to pray even if it availed no impact on the world.

2. When we pray, it does change things.

Addressing point #2 above: When we pray, it does change things.

However, let me very quickly point out that I don’t believe a correct attitude in prayer is to convince God of anything, or to persuade Him. This is hard to grasp because in our interaction with humans, when we speak passionately about something, we perceive the opportunity to spread our point of view, whether by enlightenment, argument, conviction, or otherwise. Even those of us who are the least logical-minded, when we converse, we understand the necessity of satisfying another individual with our words such that our point of view or our desires are accepted and even chosen. So when we pray to a sovereign, holy, all-powerful God, we tend to approach Him in the same way. He understands that—He made us. Nevertheless, do you really want to project your imperfect thoughts and plans onto a perfect God such that they come to fruition? Any thoughts that we have are either in error, whether completely or just slightly, or they are born of God and are perfect. Therefore, we cannot convince Him or bring a plan to Him that is any better than the one He already prefers. We can only come in agreement, be strengthened in our concurrence, and be empowered to go and live out the purpose that God prefers. In that moment, we have taken part in an important transaction that God allows through free-will…and life events change.

Human Observation and Understanding of Cause and Effect

To illustrate our human view of prayer and events versus God’s perspective, consider a car on the street of a highly populated city. We have the view of the driver of the car. We see the immediate landscape in front of us and have a general sense of where we might like to go and how it might be best to get there. God, however, is above the city in something such as a blimp, seeing your very car, where He desires you to go, and the best way to get there. We often go long periods trying to navigate on our own intuition, following the same mistakes of men before us and around us from whom we have learned worldly wisdom. One day, we realize we have a GPS, or a phone line to the overhead blimp (prayer). We ask the GPS or blimp (God) to help us with the direction or to get to a specific destination. What we observe is that our asking led to a change: turn here, go there, the light turned green or another red light. Even when we recognize His hand guiding us, we might be tempted to say in our limited point of view that our prayer actually changed those things and even changed the mind of God. But in reality, God already saw all and knew all, and He would not have guided you in a way that was not within His will. Therefore, we were right that our prayers changed things—we received the right direction as a result of contacting Him. But we were probably wrong in thinking that our prayer actually changed the mind of God—instead, it merely allowed us to interact with God such that His desires were fulfilled, in a way that they weren’t fulfilled apart from our prayer. How important that prayer was! Even if in the beginning we were asking to go 180 degrees opposite of His will. Because when we began to realize the general direction He was guiding us and we continued to pray for direction and for change, we began to walk within His will. None of this would have happened without the prayer.

So prayer is absolutely necessary and vital to God’s will, but it does not change it. I encourage and implore you: pray any matter on your heart to God continually until your heart has been changed or the thing comes to fruition, being open to either, having faith in God and His perfect love. In either case, through prayer, God’s will has been realized.

The Product of Free-Will

Another amazing part of this discussion is the fact that we get to take part in such things and are given free-will. Free-will allows us to make choices. If we have the ability to choose God, then we have the ability to reject Him. There is not one possibility without the other. The possibility of rejecting God opens the door to the amazing relationship of choosing Him—and this is love (agape)! God is sovereign and ruler of all. And in that sovereignty, He by all means has the right to make the choice to limit His control and allow free-will. Please do not misinterpret my words and call this a heresy. This makes God no less sovereign—in fact, it puts an exclamation point on His sovereignty, coupled with His patience and love—that He would purposefully step back ever so slightly from controlling all decisions and actions at all times, such that we would have the capacity to make choices…and in that, have the capacity to love. Otherwise, we are just robots. But since God is love (1 John 4:8), then God is a choice-maker. And by making us in His image, He has made us choice-makers capable of love. This is His design and He looks at this creation and calls it good (Gen 1:31).

So when the world hangs in the balance—our individual worlds or the entire earth—consider prayer. Pray the matter through to completion, knowing that your prayer does matter. “The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective” (James 5:16b). This is because it aligns us with God. This is because it changes our hearts. This is because God willingly gives us this power of Himself to choose and make changes in this world. This is because the angels respond to the word of God and the righteous prayers of His saints. This is because of the power and value God gives an intercessor.

God’s Design: Intercessor

Isaiah 59:15b-16: “Then the LORD saw it, and it displeased Him That there was no justice. ¹⁶ He saw that there was no man, And wondered that there was no intercessor; Therefore His own arm brought salvation for Him; And His own righteousness, it sustained Him.”

God has an almost peculiar affinity to intercession. We read in Isaiah that God “wondered that there was no intercessor” to plead the case of the terribly sinful Israelites, such that they might be spared the punishment and wrath of God. If the presence of an intercessor didn’t matter, the role would not have been mentioned. In the example of Moses and his prayers (discussions with God), he was the sole intercessor and God honored that.

To God and to us, an intercessor means everything. This is because the ultimate prophecy of Isaiah 59 is Jesus Christ as the ultimate intercessor to our Father in Heaven, such that we might be spared His wrath and instead receive eternal life (Rom 8:34, Heb 7:25, 1 John 2:1). The reason that John 3:16 is true—that through the love of God and by belief in Jesus we can be spared eternal death and instead have eternal life—is because when we call on Jesus for who He is, He intercedes to the Father on our behalf. In doing so, we are imparted the Holy Spirit, who cries out “Abba, Father” for us (Gal 4:6-7). If instead in the last day, Jesus says, “Depart from me, I never knew you,” we are damned because of our sin and the lack of righteous intercession (Matt 7:21-23).

So we see that a great component of the power of prayer is God’s value of intercession. In intercession, we agree with Christ for simultaneous grace and justice—a favorable outcome for us through Christ alone—and He responds in a very real way. He responds in eternally saving those interceded for, and He even responds by changing physical circumstances in the lives of those for whom intercession has been made. All within His will, of course. If in my human emotion of anger, I was so zealous to call fire from Heaven down upon the man who just cut me off on the highway, I highly doubt that God would honor that request. If God is pursuing that driver to be His child, then I just prayed outside His will and the Holy Spirit is grieved by that disharmony (Eph 4:30-32). But if instead I pray in sincerity that my co-worker who denies Christ would be saved by faith, and I pray in fervent faith, I know that the Lord will honor that prayer. Simply because God responds to holy intercession, none greater than Christ Jesus.

Conclusions

Whether or not you subscribe to the theory that “God changes His mind,” it becomes a little less relevant and doesn’t change these facts: Prayer does change specific physical things on this earth that are within God’s will. These physical things are changed because of their spiritual impact. Why this is true can likely be summed up by God’s gift of free-will and our capacity to choose and love Him, as well as each other. We should pray to seek God’s face (intimacy, seeking Him for Him alone) and not just His hands, and in a deep relationship, that would be enough. But beyond that, God desires that we are empowered and approach Him with confidence, knowing that He responds to our prayers and changes the world through us for His glory. I challenge you therefore, to approach prayer with the following motives:

1. Seeking God’s face (intimate relationship of knowing Him for the sake of knowing Him alone)

2. As a natural outflow of your love for Him

3. As an intercessor for your fellow man and God’s glory

4. As a subordinate to a sovereign God who has given you this responsibility and privilege

5. To test your desires and be transformed

6. To alter the world forever, making change for God’s preferred will and glory

What would the world look like if we all stepped up with these attitudes in sincere prayer? I don’t know fully, but I do know that it would look differently, for the better, and for God’s glory. I’m making a recommitment to prayer with full confidence of God’s power through it. I’m making a recommitment to prayer to bask in the full loving relationship with a loving God. Will you join me, be changed for good forever, and change this world for good forever? It is my prayer that you do. Amen.