Who's Your Father?: Returning to the Love of the Biblical God

by Robert Bernecker

examination reveals that if this supposition is true, it allows for the unbiblical possibility that God could fail at anything he sets out to do, and it puts the one engaged in intercessory prayer in a very peculiar position. The prayer would necessarily go something like this: “Oh, Lord, please woo Sam to yourself, but don’t make it so effective and convincing that it will overcome his free will. Please don’t woo him enough that he will turn to you as a result of your wooing, only just woo him enough that he will turn to you as a result of his free will.” This bizarre prayer borders on absurdity. We are actually praying that God will work ineffectually! If God were to work effectually, it would violate Sam’s free will, and that just would not do. This is like saying, “Oh, God, may Sam make the right decision on his own, without you doing anything to interfere with his free will; may he just suddenly somehow decide to choose you for some unknown reason—any reason at all other than the unacceptable reason of you making him want to choose you.” No rational person would pray this way, of course, so we must therefore realize that in actuality it is God’s sovereignty over the human will upon which we rely when we intercede in prayer. The prolific author Jerry Bridges summed up this concept quite nicely: “Prayer assumes the sovereignty of God. If God is not sovereign, we have no assurance that he is able to answer our prayers. God’s sovereignty, along with his wisdom and love, i...