Commenting upon the flurry of deadly tornadoes in early March (2012), Pat Robertson said, “If enough people were praying He (God) would’ve intervened, you could pray, Jesus stilled the storm, you can still storms.” (The 700 Club, 03/06/12).
While I appreciate Mr. Robertson’s promotion of prayer, and his confidence in the power of prayer, his comment reveals a very common misunderstanding about the purpose and power of prayer. He cites Jesus’ calming of the storm (Matt. 8; Lk. 8), but Mr. Robertson ignores the part of the story where Jesus sharply rebuked the apostles for their “fearfulness” and “lack of faith.” If Mr. Robertson believes that we are still in the miracle age, then why didn’t Pat stop the tornados himself, just as Jesus expected the apostles to have done in the first century!
Prayer operates in the realm of providence, not in the realm of the miraculous. Tornadoes, hurricanes and other severe weather events occur as a result of certain climatic and atmospheric conditions and cycles. Severe weather is a natural occurrence, not a direct act of God. Praying for a tornado not to develop or strike would be like praying for the earth to stop rotating upon its axis or to stop revolving annually around the sun. Such a prayer would be pointless, for prayer operates within the realm of providence. By “providence” I mean what God has provided in the creation of the universe. Miracles set aside the laws and properties of the physical universe. Conversely, providence incorporates and uses those laws and properties. (more on this in our next article)
As demonstrated by Joshua’s request in Joshua 10:12, 13, in the battle against the Amorite kings, stopping the earth’s rotation requires a direct act of divine intervention. It requires God to suspend the very physical laws that He ordained for the steady operation of the cosmos. Joshua lived in the miracle age; we do not (for additional study on “miracles,” please write us and request a free copy of our tract, Do Miracles Happen Today? Click on the link to view on the web).
The apostle John teaches us some very important things about prayer. His record of the blind man (John 9:31) teaches us that God “does not listen to sinners,” but He listens to those who “worship Him and do His will.” In his first epistle, John says that God listens to the prayers of those who “ask according to His will” (1 John 5:14). God’s will is expressed in the Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16, 17). One must study the Scriptures in order to learn about scriptural prayer. For example, we are to pray for our “daily bread” (Matthew 6:11), but if we don’t work, then “neither should we eat” (2 Thess. 3:10). We are to pray for our sins to be forgiven (Matthew 6:12), but if we refuse to “repent” of and “confess” our sins, then we will not be forgiven (Acts 8:22; 1 John 1:9).
Our next article will address “prayer and providence.”
Tim Haile