The Petitionary Prayer Process Part II: Is God Omniscient?

"Oh, the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways!"
- Romans 11:33

My man J Truitt asks a solid question, which I will address in this post and the next. He says, "in your estimation, is your "1, 2, 3, 4" list (for lack of a better description) the way that petitionary prayer works, or a way?" In his comment, he references Exodus 32:7-14.

Exodus 32:7-14 presents an intriguing dilemna. If God wanted to obliterate the idolatrous Israelites, why did He heed Moses' prayer? And if God planned to show mercy on them, why did He say that He was going to destroy them?

I believe that in order to correctly understand the complexities of this passage, one must first understand the nature of God. Specifically, I want to focus on the extent of God's knowledge. It should provide a solid framework from which to base our interpretation of Exodus 32:7-14. If it can be established that God is omniscient, then it follows that God knew before He said that He would destroy the idolatrous Israelites that He would show mercy to them. If it can be proven that God is not omniscient, then it is a necessary possibility that God did not know the final outcome of this interaction with Moses until after the outcome occurred.

What does the Bible say about the knowledge of God? I believe that it describes God as all-knowledgeable. Here are the passages that I found (mainly through consulting the writings of various theologians) that are in favor of this viewpoint:

"For truly my words are not false;
One who is perfect in knowledge is with you."
- Job 36:4

"Do you know about the layers of the thick clouds,
The wonders of one perfect in knowledge,"
- Job 37:16

"Great is our LORD and abundant in strength;
His understanding is infinite."
- Psalm 147:5

"Remember the former things long past,
For I am God, and there is no other;
God, and there is no one like Me,
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things which have not been done,
Saying, 'My purpose will be established,
And I will accomplish all My good pleasure';"
- Isaiah 46:9-10

(admittedly, this passage is less direct in reference to God's omniscience. However, I include it because I believe that if God did not know everything, then it is necessarily possible that an event could occur that could alter the end that God declared, or any of the events that He declared from ancient times).

"And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."
- Hebrews 4:13

And the clincher,

"Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth. We will know by this that we are of the truth, and will assure our heart before Him in whatever our heart condemns us; for God is greater than our heart and knows all things."
- 1 John 3:18-20

It could be argued here that since this passage references the human heart, then the phrase "knows all things" could be referring to oneness/intimate knowledge rather than a factual type of knowledge. But is it consistent to say that God is one with everything and every person? Is He in perfect harmony with an unrepentant sinner? Does God know a speck of dust like He knows His bride, the Church?

I say no. It is a better fit in the passage itself to interpret "knows all things" as "has infinite insight and understanding." Then, the passage makes sense. Here is my interpretation: the fruit of a Christian's faith is evidence of his/her saving relationship with God through Christ. Even if the flesh of the Christian accuses him/her (which is not a given at all times, according to verse 21), God has infinite knowledge and therefore knows better than his/her heart that he/she is reconciled to Him.

The Petitionary Prayer Process

(Before I begin, I must give props to Michael J. Murray and Kurt Meyers for writing an article in the Philosophy and Faith textbook (edited by David Shatz) that got me to ponder this topic. They also provided the framework for some of the arguments and counter-arguments presented here).

Have you ever wondered, "Why do I make requests to God?" The simple answer is: because God says so (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:28, James 5:16, to name a few).

That answer is sufficient. Yet, it seems that if one understood the petitionary prayer process, one would have a greater motivation to pray.

A volley of questions now ensues:

Does not God always do what is ultimately best in a given situation? When a believer requests something that is in His will, was God already going to perform the act? If so, then why ask in the first place? If not, then why does God change his course of action based on human request? Can one add to the wisdom of God? Or does anyone have insight that God does not possess?

One might say, "Making requests to God draws me closer to Him." Another might say, "Petitioning God helps me recognize my dependence on Him." (Really, these are the same).

Yet someone might respond, "Does He not give you other methods of drawing close to Him/recognizing dependence on Him, such as reading, studying, meditating and memorizing His Word? Or by exhortation from other believers? Or by praising God? Or thanking Him? Or confessing sin?"

Here is my understanding of the petitionary prayer process (feel free to offer objections or alternative viewpoints):

1. God wants event X to occur
2. God moves in the heart of a believer to pray that event X will occur
3. A believer feels a desire to pray for the occurence of event X and does so.
4. God responds to the prayer of a believer and causes event X to occur.

This understanding of petitionary prayer both upholds God's omnibenevolence and sovereignty (in other words, He has the desire and power to do what is ultimately best) while maintaining the efficacy of the believer's prayer (in other words, the prayer of the believer had a real impact on the outcome of event X).

Now, the immediate objection is: "Well, that's terribly inefficient! Why doesn't God skip steps 2, 3, and 4a and go straight from 1 to 4b?"

My response: God is more glorified in the case where He causes the event He wants to occur after a believer prays for it than by simply causing the event to occur.

Of course, even if this response is accepted, there are still unresolved problems. For instance, if no one prayed for the world to be created, and God is more glorified when He responds to the prayers of believers, then did God choose a less glorious route by creating the world and man without involving the prayers of the saints?

Persecution

"Remember the word that I said to you, 'A slave is not greater than his master.' If they persecuted me, they will persecute you; if they kept My word, they will keep yours also. But all these things they will do to you for My name's sake, because they do not know the One who sent Me."
- John 15:20-21

"Indeed, all who desire to live godly in Christ Jesus will be persecuted."
- 2 Timothy 3:12

How do I reconcile these verses with my life? I had the pleasure of watching the final segment of a six-part series by John Piper on fighting for joy, and one of the things he recommended was to visit a website on persecution. There's a tab on the left entitled, "Country Info." I decided to read about Christian persecution in North Korea.

The 2005 North Korea report is rather grim. I can't truly imagine what my life would look like if I lived in a country that did not permit me to worship the triune God, or people that would toss me into prison for not hanging up a picture of Kim II Sung or Kim Jong Il in my place of residence.

I also got to read about persecution in SEND! magazine, a Gospel for Asia publication. What would I do if I was a pastor with a family, and got thrown out of a place that doubles as home and church building for sixty?

On the contrary, I live in an area that allows me to think freely, worship freely and never have to worry about threats against me to deny Christ. Praise God for these blessings!

However, what if this prosperity continues for the rest of my time in this perishable body? Would this lack of persecution indicate that I don't desire to live godly in Christ?