is objected that prayer is superfluous because God knows more than we can tell Him; that if He is gracious and merciful we need not persuade Him to act accordingly. Some say that God is too great to be concerned with our petty interests. A complete answer is that God invites us to ask of Him. We could say more, but it would be superfluous. Others say that God's sovereignty makes human prayer futile, because God does what He will. A human sovereign can grant more requests than any other in the realm just because he is a sovereign. Such misconceive God's sovereignty as a fatalism that restricts God as well as man, and robs Him of His free agency. Others say that answer to prayer is inconsistent with the fixity of natural law. They seem to think that God is so bound by His own law that He has not the power to respond to His child's cry that belongs to a human father. They forget that prayer is one of His laws, and that He not only invites to prayer, but inspires it. Indeed, all spiritual appeal to God originates with Him.
The silliest excuse is made by some dispensationists, happily very few in number, who say that inasmuch as all things are ours, there is nothing left to pray for, while others say that God is now dispensing only spiritual blessings. They ignore the fact that in the prison epistles prayer is very prominent and the exhortations are more comprehensive than elsewhere. One passage alone should destroy this folly. Philippians 4:6,7 shows that whatever causes worry is to be made a matter of prayer. Economic conditions govern the lives of men more than anything else. These come within the scope of Pauline prayer.
George L. Rogers
