If It Is Possible…

This is going to be an amazing few weeks as we prioritise prayer together. Our pastoral team has been reading Why We Pray by John C. Peckham, so much of what you’ll hear over the coming weeks is inspired by that book.

I’m going to need God’s help today, because this is a complicated, existential, deep topic. We’re looking at prayer in light of the cosmic conflict, the great controversy, and tackling some big questions. You may leave with more questions than answers. The good news is that I get to ask the questions, and the following speakers get to answer them!

Father in heaven, thank you for creating a way for us to connect with you. You’re not a distant, unreachable God. You come near. We don’t only speak to you. You speak to us. Make our hearts attentive today. May prayer be not just something we do but the posture of our hearts. We bring you our questions and our wrestling. Prayer is often a mystery, but you are a mystery, God, and that’s what makes you beautiful: we can spend a lifetime learning about you and only scratch the surface. Speak through me as I present this deep topic. In Jesus’ name, amen.

“Anything is possible with God”… is it?

As a child I sang songs about how anything is possible with God. I remember Road to Bethlehem, with the angel telling Mary, “Anything is possible with God, Mary!” We affirm that God is sovereign and powerful and can do all things.

But the world around us often doesn’t look that way. In Thailand we spent time with orphans in very difficult family situations, children whose parents and families are absent from their lives. When we look at suffering like that, we wonder: if anything is possible with God, why is there so much heartache, suffering and pain? And with everything going on, does my prayer actually make a difference to events so much bigger than me? What does prayer really do?

Three “omnis”

Let me introduce three words that describe the essence of God. I’ll write them on the whiteboard. “Omni” means all.

• Omniscient: all-knowing.
• Omnibenevolent: all-good. (“Benevolent” means good.)
• Omnipotent: all-powerful. (“Potent” means powerful.)

These three attributes describe how we understand God as big and sovereign, far bigger than us. Now some questions about prayer:

• Does prayer tell God something he didn’t know? If it did, that would contradict his omniscience.
• Does prayer persuade God to do some good he otherwise wouldn’t? “God, you may not think this is good, but I’m here to convince you it is.” That would contradict his omnibenevolence.
• Does prayer give God extra power to act, strength he wouldn’t have had otherwise? No. That would contradict his omnipotence.

So why do we pray? What is prayer for? Does my prayer really change anything?

Jesus wrestled too

What if I told you Jesus wrestled with the same thing? In the Garden of Gethsemane he pours out his heart to the Father so openly and honestly, asking whether there might be another way while still surrendering to God’s will. Over the next few weeks we’ll keep coming back to Gethsemane.

Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

— Matthew 26:38–39

Jesus is in deep anguish: “Is there another way? Can you take this cup from me? I don’t want to go through this suffering.”

I assumed this would read the same in every Gospel, but it doesn’t. Here’s Mark:

Going a little farther, he fell to the ground and prayed that if possible the hour might pass from him. “Abba, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you will.”

— Mark 14:35–36

Spot the difference? Matthew has “if it is possible,” with some hesitancy. Mark has “everything is possible for you.” Who’s right? Is there a contradiction in how we understand God and what’s possible?

What happens next is that the request isn’t granted. Jesus drinks the cup. It doesn’t pass from him. So are some things not possible for God? It seems there are things God can’t do, or at least won’t do.

So why wasn’t there another way? This is the Son of God praying, the one with all authority in heaven and on earth, asking the Father to take this away. Why wasn’t it possible?

Many of us have been there. “God, why don’t you heal me? Why am I still going through this? Why don’t you heal my family member? Why don’t you take away this mental health struggle? Do you even hear me?” It feels like our prayers bounce off the ceiling. I won’t go too far into that, because Davison is speaking on unanswered prayer next week and will tackle those hard questions. But if Jesus didn’t get his request, it helps us understand why our prayers sometimes seem to go unanswered.

Zoom out: the cosmic conflict

We need to zoom out. Jesus’ struggle wasn’t just personal suffering. It was part of a bigger story, a cosmic conflict between good and evil. As Adventists we call it the great controversy.

When we zoom out, we see that this isn’t a battle over power or who’s stronger. It’s a war over God’s character, a war of ideas. The serpent comes to Adam and Eve and says, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?” (Genesis 3:1). It’s an accusation: God can’t be trusted. Doubt what he says. He’s holding out on you. Question him like I do. The war revolves around the devil’s slanderous accusations against God.

That big-picture story helps us understand prayer more fully. John Peckham writes:

The portrait of a cosmic conflict set forth in Scripture and recognised in the Christian tradition may provide a broader context in which the all-powerful God is sometimes morally impeded from bringing about goods he wishes to bring about unless petitionary prayer is offered.

The hedge around Job

Satan’s conversation with God about Job helps us understand this:

One day the angels came to present themselves before the Lord, and Satan also came with them. The Lord said to Satan, “Where have you come from?”

Satan answered the Lord, “From roaming throughout the earth, going back and forth on it.”

Then the Lord said to Satan, “Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil.”

“Does Job fear God for nothing?” Satan replied. “Have you not put a hedge around him and his household and everything he has? You have blessed the work of his hands, so that his flocks and herds are spread throughout the land. But now stretch out your hand and strike everything he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.”

The Lord said to Satan, “Very well, then, everything he has is in your power, but on the man himself do not lay a finger.” Then Satan went out from the presence of the Lord.

— Job 1:6–12

It’s wild that this kind of thing goes on. I wonder if God ever says, “Have you considered my servant Jeremy?” I don’t know about that one.

Let me draw it. Before the conversation there’s a hedge of protection around Job and everything entrusted to him: his household, flocks, herds and possessions. Satan’s accusation is, “The only reason Job follows you is that hedge.”

After the conversation God allows the hedge to shrink. (That’s the red line.) Now it protects only Job himself, and the enemy has free rein over his household, livestock and possessions.

These aren’t private chats between God and the devil. They take place in an open heavenly court, where Satan is challenging God’s justice. And God moves the boundaries of the enemy’s operation based on that conversation.

So here’s what I want to say: if God changed the boundaries for Job based on the enemy’s conversation with him, how much more will he move them when a believer comes to him in prayer in the name of Jesus? Not only the boundaries on the enemy’s side, but on God’s side too.

“The Lord remained standing before Abraham”

Other passages show God choosing to operate within limits. In Genesis 18:17 God says, “Shall I hide from Abraham what I am about to do?” He wants to be open and transparent with Abraham, because he isn’t a dictator or a tyrant. He puts his character on full display.

Then verse 22: “The men turned away and went toward Sodom, but Abraham remained standing before the Lord.”

You’re probably thinking, “So what, Jeremy?” But some Bibles have a footnote here. Older manuscripts read differently: “the Lord remained standing before Abraham.”

The scene is a kind of courtroom, with Abraham almost in the role of judge and God almost the one on trial. It sounds sacrilegious, even heretical. But God takes an almost subservient posture before Abraham because he’s putting his character on full display and inviting Abraham to contend with him. He’s inviting Abraham to move the boundaries, to shift the hedge, through his prayers.

Here’s what I’ve been reflecting on: prayer doesn’t change God’s heart, but it does change what God can justly do within the moral framework of the universe.

Echo Youth

Let me illustrate. Some Friday nights our youth now gather for something called Echo Youth: worship, praise, discussion and fellowship. It’s been amazing.

I’d had a Friday night youth space on my mind for a while, but the timing didn’t feel right and we needed some buy-in. Quite a while later some teens came up to me and said, “Jeremy, why don’t we do a Friday night youth thing?” I said, “That’s awesome! We should definitely do it.” And we made it happen.

They didn’t need to convince me. I already wanted it. But their asking gave me a reason to go ahead.

I think prayer is like that. When we bring God our requests, he says, “I already wanted to do that. Now that you’ve asked, let’s do it.” Or, “I’ve been waiting for you to ask.” We don’t have to talk him into anything. Prayer is giving God permission to do what he already longs to do.

Even the greats play by the rules

God plays by the rules he has set, or better, by the principles that flow from his heart. That isn’t weakness or a lack of power. I believe it’s a sign of his beauty and majesty. Rules don’t mean less power. They mean more beauty and greatness.

I’m a Manchester United fan, and I grew up watching Ronaldo score so many goals for my club. He’s now the highest scorer of all time and closing in on 1,000 career goals. What made him great is those goals.

Now imagine Ronaldo were allowed to pick the ball up and run it into the net while everyone else had to use their feet. That wouldn’t make him great. It would make him a cheat. Even the greats play by the rules. Ronaldo is great because he achieved within the rules of football.

In the same way, God’s rules of engagement don’t limit his power, but they may morally limit how he uses it. Our prayers can shift those rules of engagement on a cosmic scale. Prayer is how you take part in the cosmic conflict. Throughout the Bible people shape a future that otherwise wouldn’t have been, through prayer. That’s what intercession does. It opens the way for God to justly bring about what he already intended.

God operates within the constraints of his character, within his law. Here’s his throne, my best drawing. It’s founded on love, the ultimate reality everything runs on. God’s love is his law, and that love includes mercy, justice, humility and everything else love is. That law isn’t separate from God or arbitrarily commanded. It flows from his heart. It’s who he is and the framework he operates in.

The artist and the canvas

So back to the question: is anything possible for God? I say yes. Anything is possible for God within his heart, his morality and his love. The Bible says God “cannot disown himself” (2 Timothy 2:13) and “does not change like shifting shadows” (James 1:17).

God is an artist who paints within limits. That’s what art is. Artists, you paint within the canvas, not outside it. Musicians, there are twelve notes. Artistry isn’t inventing new notes. It’s arranging those twelve in a way that’s beautiful and reflects something amazing.

Limits aren’t weakness. They’re an expression of love. Back to prayer: our prayers give God permission to clear chaos from the canvas and paint beauty from ashes. Prayer gives God permission to stamp more of his character on the world.

I love that God isn’t only true and right. He’s beautiful. When we pray, we take part in that beauty. We ask him to bend the course of events, and our prayers can make the world more beautiful as we partner with God in this cosmic conversation.

The cross: possible for his power, not for his heart

I want to land at the cross, because I believe it’s the ultimate answer to the prayers of the human heart. It proves that God does and will answer prayer within the bounds of his character. It shows he will fight for us and win, but there was only one way that victory was possible.

At the cross God held two things together: justice and mercy. He upheld justice, one dimension of his law of love, because he didn’t simply excuse sin or say it doesn’t matter. And he upheld mercy, because instead of making humanity pay, he took the sin on his own shoulders and paid the price for us.

When Jesus prayed, “If it is possible, take this cup from me,” it was possible for God’s power, but not for God’s heart. God’s heart wanted humanity restored, healed and made whole.

At the cross Satan, the ruler of this world, was stripped of the keys he held. Jesus took them. Through his death the veil that separated and compartmentalised God’s presence was torn, and his presence was released into the world. That’s why we can pray, “Your kingdom come, your will be done.” We have unlimited access to God’s presence, and we can pray for more of his kingdom and presence in the world because of what Jesus did on the cross.

Anything is possible with God, and the cross proves it. Even there, Jesus painted resurrection out of death.

What we’ve learned

• Prayer is participation in a bigger cosmic conflict.
• Prayer doesn’t change God’s heart, but it does move the boundaries of what God can justly do.
• God’s power is expressed within the beauty of his character of love.

So when you pray, know that prayer is powerful. It can shift boundaries, because we come to God in the name of Jesus. That’s why he listens. He invites our intercession. He shows us that prayer works, that anything is possible, and that he is so, so beautiful.