What About Free Will And Prayer?

We have been thinking thus far about situations where God did not give us what we asked for and trying to trust that he did something even better. 

But are there times when his will is frustrated by our own? When he wants to answer our prayer but human freedom prevents him?

The question moves us into the arena of sovereignty/free will. Some theologians argue that God’s sovereign will is not subject to ours, that human freedom can never frustrate or defeat the divine plan. They would not agree that misused free will could be a factor in God’s answers to our prayers. He will do what is best however humans react to him.

However, it seems to me that in at least one area, God’s will is limited by ours. 

Second Peter 3:9 states, “God is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” 

First Timothy 2:4 promises that God “wants all men to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 

Some believe God has chosen the “elect” who will be in heaven and those who will be in hell, and that human freedom is not determinative of eternal destiny. They must interpret these two passages as relating only to the “elect.” 

But the verses seem in their context to speak to all of humanity, never mentioning the “elect.” It seems clear that God wants every one of his children to be with him in eternity.

Yet, we know many are lost: “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Revelation 20:15). 

Many will use their free will to refuse God’s offer of grace. And he has chosen to limit himself to their freedom. He created us to worship him; worship requires a choice; God will not violate that freedom. His sovereign decision to enable our free will causes him to honor that freedom.

If this is true, we have at least one area where human freedom limits the perfect will of God. 

God’s sovereignty versus our free will

Is this possible in other areas as well, specifically, with regard to prayer? Could it be that a reason God has not answered a prayer as you asked it is because someone is refusing to cooperate? For example, God wanted you to have a particular job, but the person who was to hire you misused his freedom to hire a family member instead.

I have not resolved this issue fully in my own mind. If God is sovereign, his “good, pleasing and perfect will” must be done (Romans 12:2). If God intends us to have freedom of choice, he must honor the decisions we make even when they are counter to his perfect will. 

It seems to me that resolving this conflict in either direction creates a greater problem than we solve. If God’s will controls our own, our mistakes and sins are ultimately his fault (violating James 1:13–15). If our will controls God’s, he cannot fulfill his purposes for his creation (violating Jesus’ claim in Matthew 28:18 that “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me”).

So I am ready to accept both sides of the paradox. 

God is three and one; Jesus is fully God and fully man, and Scripture is divinely inspired and humanly written. In the same way, God will accomplish his perfect will without violating my freedom. 

There are times when we are like Joseph, sold into slavery by our brothers’ misused free will. 

At the end of the story, we will be able to say to them, “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good” (Genesis 50:20). 

His love prevails.