Providence and Prayer: A Practical Purview

If you've looked ahead in your copy of Bible Doctrine, you'll notice that following the chapter on Providence is a chapter on Prayer. Needless to say, this is providential... and purposeful! For one barely gets a grasp of God's divine providence before he is asking the question, "How does my praying fit with God's providence?" Maybe you've asked yourself some of these questions:

• Does God work because of my prayers, or in spite of my prayers?
• Does prayer change God, or change me?
• If God is sovereign, then why pray?
• Does God know what we are going to pray? If so, then do we even need to ask?

These are only a few questions that arise when considering the doctrine of providence and how it relates to the doctrine of prayer. So, upon concluding the chapter on Providence and before entering the chapter on prayer, we are going to consider several possible (some impossible) views of providence and prayer.

Aaron will lead us in this survey, aided by a book written by Terrance Tiessen called (of course): Providence and Prayer. In this book, "...Tiessen presents ten views of providence and prayer and then wraps things up with his own proposal. The result is a book that puts us at the intersection between theological reflection and our life and conversation with God. It prods our understanding, making us better theologians and better prayers." (taken from back cover of book)

We're going to try something a little bit different this Sunday. After Aaron gives a brief summary of each of the 11 views, we will break up into groups, each group will be assigned one of the views, and we will go to the Scriptures to see how God's Word either supports or refutes each particular view. Hopefully this will spark some great dialogue and Scripture searching (Acts 17:11) amongst the class. Several of the undershephers will be faciliating the small groups.

Until then, here's a couple of personal questions to be thinking about for further discussion either this coming Lord's day, or in your Bible Doctrine Study Groups.

• What do I believe about God's providence?
• What do I believe about prayer?
• Is the way that I pray and are the things for which I pray, consistent with what I believe about prayer and providence?
• Are they consistent with what the Scriptures teach?
• Do I ever cheapen God's providence with the way that I pray?
• Do I ever minimize the power of prayer with my views of God's providence?
• How does the Bible instruct me to pray to a sovereign, providential God?

Hopefully the chapter on providence, the questions above, and our plans for an interactive study time this Lord's day (December 11, 9:00am) will stir up your thinking on this subject and be an encouragement for you to join us as continue to "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen." (2 Peter 3:18)

CLICK HERE for Aaron's notes and outline study of "Providence and Prayer" by Terrance Tiessen.