Most of us have asked that question. We ask because we believe what Scripture teaches about our Creator: that He is sovereign over all He has created.
“In Him,” writes the Apostle Paul, “we have received an inheritance [a destiny — we were claimed by God as His own], having been predestined [chosen, appointed beforehand] according to the purpose of Him who works everything in agreement with the counsel and design of His will” (Ephesians 1:11, Amplified Bible).
So, as one theologian asks: “If God already knows what is going to happen and, indeed, if He already determined what will happen, what is the point in praying at all?”
A reasonable explanation goes something like this: “God ordains both the ends AND the means. That is, our Creator has determined what will happen — as well as the means that will make happen what He has determined will happen.”
Brain-twisting theology, I know, but it makes sense (in a limited way!). An application of this truth is evangelism! On the one hand, Scripture teaches that God the Father initiates, draws, calls people to believe in His Son for salvation (see John 6:44). These are the “Elect” Peter refers to in I Peter 1:1-2. Christians are God’s “elect” by His sovereign, unconditional call.
On the other hand, God has ordained that the gospel of Christ be proclaimed and that we must believe to be saved. In other words, God ordains the salvation of certain people — as well as the means by which they are to be saved: by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone (Ephesians 2:8-9).
Perhaps the words from theologian Douglass Moo will help: “God is fully sovereign in election at the same time as human beings are fully responsible to believe. Both are clearly taught in the Bible. Our job is to believe them both even if we cannot fully explain the way they work together.”
Dr. Moo’s observation certainly applies to Scripture’s appeal for believers to pray at all times (I Thessalonians 5:17). Let us remember, brothers and sisters, that we are called to simply trust in what our Heavenly Father has instructed us to do. We’ll never know all the ins and outs of His sovereign plans, but we are certain that He acts, that He answers prayer — and that His answers are always with our good and His glory in mind.