In Isaiah, chapter thirty-eight, verse five, “Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.” God’s statement that Hezekiah must prepare for death and Hezekiah’s prayer to God, as in verse two, have important implications for our relationship to God. All the things that God declares about the future are not necessarily irrevocable, as in Jonah three, verses one through ten.
When believers are confronted with tragedy, we can rest assured that God cares about what happens to us; He is compassionate and sensitive to our experiences. Our prayers can have an impact on God, His purposes, and the outworking of His sovereign plan; Therefore, what happens in our lives or in the life of the church is determined by both God’s plan and our prayers. We must always maintain the Scriptural conviction that prayer does change things, as in verses four through seven, First Kings twenty-one, verse twenty-nine, Ezekiel thirty-three, verses thirteen to sixteen, and James five, verses fourteen to fifteen, respectively.
Prayer can indeed change things. Depending on what it is, who is involved, and overall, the motive. For God knows the heart of every human being. Therefore, no one can fool Him. The examples of prayer from Abraham and Moses to God demonstrate the approach believers should have.
Abraham pleads for Sodom in Genesis eighteen, verses twenty-two through thirty-three. The Lord was about to punish Sodom and Gomorrah in verses sixteen to twenty-one. Moses pleads for Israel after the people complained about the conditions in the wilderness. God wanted to punish them in Numbers fourteen, verses eleven to twelve. Moses responds to God in verses fourteen to nineteen in the same chapter.