PRAYER AND GOD'S JUDGEMENT.

*WISDOM FOR TODAY.*

*PRAYER AND GOD'S JUDGMENT.*

*Scripture Treasure.*

Jonah 3:4-10 *And Jonah began to enter into the city a day's journey, and he cried, and said, Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown.*

*So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.*

*For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.*

*And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:*

*But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands.*

*Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?*

*And God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God repented of the evil, that he had said that he would do unto them; and he did it not.*

*Insight and Highlight.*

Prayer can not change God's perfect and divine will but it can alter God's pronounced judgment.

*Scripture Commentaries.*

Numb 23:19 tells us of the unchangeability of God. *God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?*

Though this is correct but it only speaks of the uniqueness of God to remain unchanged in His unique attributes.

God's unique attributes are attributes unique with God and no human share them with Him.

God can not compromise His All-knowing invincibility, infinity, He can not lie etc.

He can not change from God to anything less and no human effort could achieve this.

God however can change His mind to not judge or punish as He originally intended.

In the moral attributes ( e.g just essentially, mercy, holiness etc) we share with Him some scriptures tell us how God changed His mind to destroy in response to prayers.

Though our prayers will not change His divine will for us, our prayers can change His intended or pronounced judgment.

In Exd 32 at the scene of the golden calf, God declared His judgment to destroy the Israelites choosing to replace them by making Moses' descendants a great nation instead, Exd 32:10.

God changed His mind in response to Moses' intercession, Exd 32:11-13.

Exd 32:14 says *And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people.*

Though three thousand people that were directly involved in the idolatry were destroyed, the entire race of the Israelites was preserved, Exd 32:28

God would not blot out Moses from the book of life. He said to Moses *"......Whosoever hath sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book."* Exd 32:33.

God changed His mind after He had told Isaiah to tell Hezekiah he would die. Hezekiah interceded and God gave Him fifteen more years, Isaiah 38:1-5.

God changed His mind to destroy Nineveh when the entire city repented of their evil,

Jonah 3:6-10.

Prayer can change and pacify God's anger.

Prayer/intercession of the righteous can reverse God's intention to destroy, (Gen 18) but prayer can not change God to compromise His unique attributes or His known perfect will and purpose for man.

His will must be done regardless of any human will.

*Remorse corner.*

Isaiah 46:10 *Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done, saying, My counsel shall stand, and I will do all my pleasure:*

*Call to Word action.*

Effective prayer will ensure God's *.....will be done on earth, as it is in Heaven.* Matt 6:10

*The Christian clarion duty.*

God reserves an unquestionable right to hear or not to hear our prayers but He certainly hears those who ask according to His will.

*Prayer.*

Lord, let my prayers move You to have mercy. Let Your mercy prevail over Your judgment in Jesus name.

Good morning all and have a blessed day.

God bless you.

Shalom.