Turning the page…
Turning the page…
Glory · Prayer
God does not change, but He does relate to us in real time, and Scripture repeatedly shows prayer changing what happens. Several prayers in the Bible are answered by an evident turn in God's announced course, and Jeremiah teaches that God's word of warning or promise is conditioned on how people respond. Prayer does not move an unmoved God; it is the appointed means by which a loving God does His moving work.
https://glorystudy.com/questions/does-prayer-change-gods-mind · Scripture quoted from the World English Bible
Exodus 32:7-14
As you read: God threatens to consume Israel; Moses intercedes, and 'Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do.'
7Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, get down; for your people, who you brought up out of the land of Egypt, have corrupted themselves!
8They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them. They have made themselves a molten calf, and have worshiped it, and have sacrificed to it, and said, ‘These are your gods, Israel, which brought you up out of the land of Egypt.’”
9Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
10Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
11Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand?
12Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people.
13Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’”
14Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.
Jeremiah 18:1-12
As you read: God's explicit rule: He declares judgment or good, and both can be turned by repentance.
1The word which came to Jeremiah from Yahweh, saying,
2Arise, and go down to the potter’s house, and there I will cause you to hear my words.
3Then I went down to the potter’s house, and behold, he was making a work on the wheels.
4When the vessel that he made of the clay was marred in the hand of the potter, he made it again another vessel, as seemed good to the potter to make it.
5Then Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
6House of Israel, can’t I do with you as this potter? says Yahweh. Behold, as the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.
7At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it;
8if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.
9At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it;
10if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.
11Now therefore, speak to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, saying, Thus says Yahweh: Behold, I frame evil against you, and devise a device against you: return you now everyone from his evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
12But they say, It is in vain; for we will walk after our own devices, and we will do everyone after the stubbornness of his evil heart.
Numbers 14:11-25
As you read: The same pattern at the edge of the promised land: judgment announced, intercession, mercy.
11Yahweh said to Moses, “How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have worked among them?
12I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
13Moses said to Yahweh, “Then the Egyptians will hear it; for you brought up this people in your might from among them.
14They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are in the midst of this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
15Now if you killed this people as one man, then the nations which have heard the fame of you will speak, saying,
16‘Because Yahweh was not able to bring this people into the land which he swore to them, therefore he has slain them in the wilderness.’
17Now please let the power of the Lord be great, according as you have spoken, saying,
18‘Yahweh is slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness, forgiving iniquity and disobedience; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation.’
19Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
20Yahweh said, “I have pardoned according to your word:
21but in very deed, as I live, and as all the earth shall be filled with Yahweh’s glory;
22because all those men who have seen my glory, and my signs, which I worked in Egypt and in the wilderness, yet have tempted me these ten times, and have not listened to my voice;
23surely they shall not see the land which I swore to their fathers, neither shall any of those who despised me see it.
24But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and has followed me fully, him I will bring into the land into which he went. His seed shall possess it.
25Since the Amalekite and the Canaanite dwell in the valley, tomorrow turn, and go into the wilderness by the way to the Red Sea.”
Luke 18:1-8
As you read: Jesus teaches that we must always pray and not give up, and that God will avenge His elect who cry to Him day and night.
1He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up,
2saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man.
3A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’
4He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man,
5yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’”
6The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says.
7Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them?
8I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?”
Malachi records the ground of all hope: 'I, Yahweh, don't change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed,' and Balaam confesses that God 'is not a man, that he should lie... Has he spoken, and will he not make it good?' James adds that with the Father of lights there is 'no variation, nor turning shadow.' God's nature, His promises, and His love do not fluctuate like moods. That is why prayer is possible at all: we plead with a Person who keeps His word.
““For I, Yahweh, don’t change; therefore you, sons of Jacob, are not consumed.”Malachi 3:6
“God is not a man, that he should lie, nor the son of man, that he should repent. Has he said, and will he not do it? Or has he spoken, and will he not make it good?”Numbers 23:19
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation, nor turning shadow.”James 1:17
After the golden calf, God told Moses He would consume Israel, but Moses pleaded, and 'Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.' Hezekiah was told, 'You will die, and not live,' and after his prayer God answered, 'I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.' Jeremiah's rule explains it: when a nation I spoke to destroy turns from its evil, then 'I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them.' The announced sentence and the promised blessing are both real, and both are conditioned on the response.
“Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.” Moses begged Yahweh his God, and said, “Yahweh, why does your wrath burn hot against your people, that you have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘He brought them out for evil, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the surface of the earth?’ Turn from your fierce wrath, and repent of this evil against your people. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your seed as the stars of the sky, and all this land that I have spoken of I will give to your seed, and they shall inherit it forever.’” Yahweh repented of the evil which he said he would do to his people.”Exodus 32:10-14
“In those days was Hezekiah sick and near death. Isaiah the prophet, the son of Amoz, came to him, and said to him, “Thus says Yahweh, ‘Set your house in order, for you will die, and not live.’” Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to Yahweh, and said, “Remember now, Yahweh, I beg you, how I have walked before you in truth and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is good in your sight.” Hezekiah wept bitterly. Then Yahweh’s word came to Isaiah, saying, “Go, and tell Hezekiah, ‘Thus says Yahweh, the God of David your father, “I have heard your prayer. I have seen your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life.”Isaiah 38:1-5
“At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turn from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. At what instant I shall speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good, with which I said I would benefit them.”Jeremiah 18:7-10
“Tell them, As I live, says the Lord Yahweh, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live: turn, turn from your evil ways; for why will you die, house of Israel?”Ezekiel 33:11
James points to Elijah, 'a man with a nature like ours,' who prayed and no rain fell for three years and six months, and prayed again and the sky gave rain; he concludes that 'the insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective.' Jesus tells the parable of the persistent widow so that His disciples should always pray and not give up, promising that God will avenge His chosen ones 'who are crying out to him day and night.' If prayer were a theater, these texts would be a cruel joke; they are the Father's invitation to be part of His work.
“Confess your offenses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed. The insistent prayer of a righteous person is powerfully effective. Elijah was a man with a nature like ours, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain, and it didn’t rain on the earth for three years and six months. He prayed again, and the sky gave rain, and the earth produced its fruit.”James 5:16-18
“He also spoke a parable to them that they must always pray, and not give up, saying, “There was a judge in a certain city who didn’t fear God, and didn’t respect man. A widow was in that city, and she often came to him, saying, ‘Defend me from my adversary!’ He wouldn’t for a while, but afterward he said to himself, ‘Though I neither fear God, nor respect man, yet because this widow bothers me, I will defend her, or else she will wear me out by her continual coming.’” The Lord said, “Listen to what the unrighteous judge says. Won’t God avenge his chosen ones, who are crying out to him day and night, and yet he exercises patience with them? I tell you that he will avenge them quickly. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?””Luke 18:1-8
“saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””Luke 22:42
When we pray, we step into the presence of the One who is sovereign and good, and the shape of our wanting is re-formed. Jesus prayed in Gethsemane, 'Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done,' and He walked to the cross. Paul prayed three times for the removal of his thorn and received grace sufficient to bear it, discovering that weakness is where Christ's power rests. Prayer rarely leaves us where it found us, because it first turns us toward the One who is the answer.
“saying, “Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but yours, be done.””Luke 22:42
“By reason of the exceeding greatness of the revelations, that I should not be exalted excessively, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to torment me, that I should not be exalted excessively. Concerning this thing, I begged the Lord three times that it might depart from me. He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Most gladly therefore I will rather glory in my weaknesses, that the power of Christ may rest on me. Therefore I take pleasure in weaknesses, in injuries, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ’s sake. For when I am weak, then am I strong.”2 Corinthians 12:7-10
“In nothing be anxious, but in everything, by prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your thoughts in Christ Jesus.”Philippians 4:6-7
“But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.””James 4:6
There is no contradiction, because God's will is not a rigid list but a wise plan that includes our prayers. Jesus says, 'Keep asking, and it will be given you,' for the Father gives good gifts to those who ask, and the Spirit Himself helps our weakness, making intercession for us with groanings that cannot be uttered. So pray with confidence: the God who does not change has chosen to answer the cries of His children, and He has never failed anyone who cast their cares on Him.
““I tell you, keep asking, and it will be given you. Keep seeking, and you will find. Keep knocking, and it will be opened to you.”Luke 11:9
“If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?””Luke 11:13
“In the same way, the Spirit also helps our weaknesses, for we don’t know how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit himself makes intercession for us with groanings which can’t be uttered. He who searches the hearts knows what is on the Spirit’s mind, because he makes intercession for the saints according to God.”Romans 8:26-27
“casting all your worries on him, because he cares for you.”1 Peter 5:7
“Thus says Yahweh, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: “You ask me about the things that are to come, concerning my sons, and you command me concerning the work of my hands!”Isaiah 45:11