Can Prayer Change God’s Mind? - Fr. Andrew Reckers

Someone recently asked me a profound question that puzzles many people: Why does the Bible seem to imply that God sometimes changes His mind in response to prayer? Needless to say, this question sparked a great spiritual conversation and inspired me to write on this topic for a Vicar’s Corner. On one level, this is a question about the language used in the Bible to describe God. Yet, there is another underlying question that is even deeper: Can God change His mind at all? Obviously, these are topics that are so profound that this short article will only be able to serve as an introduction in answering these questions.

With respect to the question about whether God can change His mind, the simple answer is no. This is because if God can change His mind, then God would be subject to time and change, and His mind and will would be imperfect. Obviously, these problematic conclusions are incompatible with what we know about God—that He is omniscient (all-knowing), omnipotent (all-powerful), omnibenevolent (all-good), and eternal (meaning that He exists outside of time and change and is not limited or moved by them in any way). However, if God cannot change His mind, then we seem to have problems: First, the language in the Bible seems contrary to this conclusion, and second, it would seem to imply that prayer has no purpose or effect. Moreover, if God’s will for the created world is unchanging, then it would seem to take away human free will.

How are we to address this apparent dilemma? The key is to understand an important feature of God’s will in the created world: Conditionality. Simply put, a conditional is an “if-then” relationship that describes the consequences if certain conditions are met. However, if the “input” conditions (called the antecedents) are different, then the “output” results (called the consequents) may or may not be different, without any change in the conditional that was made. By using conditionals, God’s unchanging will is compatible with the free will of the people He created.

A simple example of conditionality in a human family might help to illustrate how this works. Suppose a child’s parents discover that the child is responsible for breaking a window due to reckless behavior. The parents can create a conditional with respect to how to deal with the child. If the child confesses to breaking the window and expresses sorrow, then this would result in the parents being lenient on the child. However, if the child lies or otherwise tries to get away with taking responsibility, then this would result in the parents giving a severe punishment to the child. In this case, the parents have made up their minds about what is to be done, and their minds do not change. However, there are different resulting consequences, depending on whether the child apologizes or tries to get away with it.

In a similar way, by God making His will for us and the world conditional, many different outcomes can result in our free will choices without God changing His perfect mind or will. Among the many things that go into these conditionals as antecedent “inputs” is prayer. If we choose to pray, then this can affect the outcomes in our world in dramatic ways, depending on how God has chosen to set up the conditionals and their possible consequences. So, in short, God “factors in” whether and to what extent we pray to determine a range of outcomes for us and our world. This means that prayer can powerfully change the world, as an instrument of God’s working in the world, without moving or changing God. Of course, the conditionals and their possible consequences are ultimately mysterious and unknown to us. Thus, it is impossible to try to predict the results of prayer, much less try to force God to give us what we want in the way we want. More deserves to be said about this that I cannot address in this short space.

With all this said, the initial question remains: Why does the Bible sometimes seem to imply that God changes His mind in response to prayer? The short answer is that the Bible often uses figurative rather than literal language, especially when trying to describe the infinite and ultimately indescribable God. One category of this figurative language is to describe God in human terms, which includes describing God as using hands and arms or walking with others. The purpose of this language is not to literally illustrate what God looks like or how He works in the world. Instead, this language is to help us to have a better relationship with Him by using figurative language that is more understandable and relatable to us than what is literal about God. It is much easier to relate on a human level to God “changing His mind” than explaining how conditionality works, as I have tried to do above.

In conclusion, even though prayer does not change God, it can and does powerfully change us and the world. Moreover, it is God’s will that we pray so that we learn to trust in Him and conform our wills and hearts to His perfect will. The point of prayer is not to change God, who cannot and does not need to be changed. Instead, the point of prayer is to change what needs to be changed: Our hearts and our world.