Isa
38:1, 4-6 (ESV) In those days Hezekiah
became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of
Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the Lord: Set your house in
order, for you shall die, you shall not recover."
. . .
4 Then
the word of the Lord came to Isaiah: 5 "Go and say to Hezekiah, Thus says
the Lord, the God of David your father: I have heard your prayer; I have seen
your tears. Behold, I will add fifteen years to your life. 6 I
will deliver you and this city out of the hand of the king of Assyria, and will
defend this city.
NOTE: So, here is a
clear example of God "changing his mind." Actually, that would be a
hard case to argue. God fully knew the choices that Hezekiah had to his
announcement, and knew what He would do depending upon Hezekiah's free will
choice. The only two things which seem to affect a decree of God are 1) prayer
and 2) repentance. In this case, there is clearly prayer, and the tears might
even suggest repentance. There is no argument or evidence to suggest that every
decree of God can be changed using this formula. The only thing we know is it
has happened in scripture, here and also in at least one other case in Exodus.
But I suppose the larger point is that prayer affects the will of God. And,
that is quite mysterious, because, why should our prayers matter to the
sovereign God of the universe? But He does allow them to matter, and rather
than wrestling with the why, we should focus on the factual matter, namely, our
prayers can influence our life and others. So, why aren't we praying more?
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