God,” prayed Samantha, “I'm getting married in two days and it's an outdoor wedding. Please don't let it rain on my wedding day.”

If God were to respond to Samantha's request, it would be necessary for him to change a high pressure system 500 kilometres wide and 8,000 metres above the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Not only that, he must have made these adjustments eight days before she prayed.

It should also be noted that this change will have major impact on weather systems around the world. Although we all pray for sunny days, we tend to forget that thermodynamics, not theology, is the basis of modern meteorology.

A Changeless God
The question posed for this article, “Can prayer change God's mind?”, is as complex as accurately predicting the weather, given all its variables. Have you ever known a meteorologist to be wrong? If so, you'll understand how difficult it is to construct a complete picture of God. That doesn't mean we shouldn't try to struggle with the questions.

For the purpose of this article I'd like us to think of the variables as our own theological convictions. There are myriad theology and philosophy books that expound on the complexities of God's omnipotence, omnipresence, omniscience, sovereignty, providence and free will.

We may not realize it, but these are all interconnected issues. When you alter your understanding of one, by necessity you must reconsider the others. For example, the early Greeks could not accept a god that could be influenced by any outside sources and therefore concluded that God is immutable—that is, he never changes. This theology carries with it God's absolute sovereignty and control.

Is it possible that early Christians adopted this Hellenistic idea and concluded that nothing can change the mind of God? Just a thought, but perhaps the immutability has more to do with God's character than God's predetermined actions (i.e. his promises, faithfulness and compassion for us).

Second Thoughts
Can prayer change the mind of God? Let's consider this question from the classic theistic approach. This view says God is omnipotent (absolute power) and sovereign (nothing happens unless God causes or permits it). This theological viewpoint insists, “No, prayer cannot change the mind of God.” Biblically, we could find a great deal of evidence to support this claim.

And yet, there are at least four examples in Scripture of people who, although they held these theological convictions, prayed for God to change his mind.

Exodus 32:9-14 informs us that in response to Moses' prayer for the people of Israel, God has second thoughts. At first he tells Moses, “They are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them.”

But Moses replies, “Lord, why should your anger burn against your people, whom you brought out of Egypt with great power and a mighty hand? 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. 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.' ”
God relents and the threatened disaster never comes.

On the one hand, God makes up his own mind and does what he wants. On the other, he responds to human prayer

Similarly, Isaiah tells Hezekiah: “This is what the Lord says, 'Put your house in order, because you are going to die: you will not recover' ” (Isaiah 38:1). Yet after fervent prayer, Isaiah returns to Hezekiah with a new message: “This is what the Lord, the God of your father David says, 'I have heard your prayers and seen your tears; I will heal you … I will add 15 years to your life' ” (2 Kings 20:5-6).

The Apostle Paul taught that God in his sovereign plan chooses those who will, apart from any human desire or effort, pray to God for their salvation. And yet in the Epistle to the Romans he writes, “My heart's desire and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved” (Romans 10:1).

Even Jesus, in the Garden of Gethsemane, knowing what lay before him as God's set purpose and plan, “fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him” (Mark 14:35).

The only conclusion to be drawn is that Jesus, the prophets and the apostles all believed that the eternal, immutable, sovereign God responds to prayer. In bringing together the theological and the practical we are left with contradictory assertions. On the one hand, God makes up his own mind and does what he wants. On the other, he responds to human prayer.

Those who argue that prayer cannot change the mind of God often conclude that any reference to God changing his mind in Scripture is merely a figure of speech. The technical term for this is anthropomorphism, explaining God in terms usually applied to humans. This perspective suggests that the nature of God is so far beyond our capacity that we need to put him in human terms to grasp him. Even giving God a “mind” is making him over in our image.

A Profound Mystery
I've been over this question again and again. I am aware of my own theological filter as a Wesleyan-Arminian and try to keep that in perspective. But I also do my best to not allow preconceived theological convictions to put a stranglehold on what I read and see. Theologian Walter Brueggemann urges pastors to simply, “Preach the text [of the Bible].” In so doing, we may realize that God doesn't always fit neatly into our theological packages. We must make room for paradox and mystery.

As one who is theologically convinced that God has granted humanity free will, I find it difficult to acknowledge a life where everything is predestined. I believe that people make choices—not unavoidable, God-ordained choices, but real choices. Life happens—not predetermined life, just life. In the midst of it all we turn to God and pray, and he journeys with us through the difficulties and mess-ups.

Do our prayers change the mind of God? I don't know for sure. What I do know is that God is good and I keep praying. I am doing less talking and more listening to him these days, and I find that through this I am the one who is changing. I'm not so concerned with changing God's mind as discovering his will so that I can know what to pray.

Despite the different perspectives on prayer, there is a general acknowledgement that God calls us to pray and there is value in it. Those who hold a classic theistic view pray because it gives them the privilege of communicating with God and being part of what he does. C. S. Lewis, quoting the philosopher Blaise Pascal, writes, “God instituted prayer in order to lend his creatures the dignity of causality.” Those who hold a less deterministic view of God pray in the belief that God hears and responds in the way he so chooses.

Whatever our convictions, it is God who moves us to prayer, and through prayer we are changed.