Spoiler Alert!

The Magee home had one strict rule which was ignored by everyone except me: never read the last chapter of a book before you've read the book. I could never understand how people (yes, I'm talking about you!) would want to know how the story turned out or how the mystery was solved without investing the time to read the book in its entirety first. UGH.

SO it comes as a surprise, even to me, to write a blog about how I turned to the last chapter of a book before reading the previous ones. In my defense, I think it was the right thing to do. The book is The Prayer of the Lord by R.C Sproul. It is the next selection for the women at EPC - a ten week study of the Lord's Prayer.

The Appendix is entitled "If God is Sovereign, Why Pray?" Can you see why I thought it might be good to start here? The subject matter describes the complexity of believing in the sovereignty of God while still bringing our petitions before Him. Some people ask, "Why bother?" Here is how Sproul poses the dilemma:

"As soon as we set these two ideas - the sovereignty of God and the prayers of His people - side by side, we run into a very sticky theological question. Objections are raised from every quarter. People say: "Wait a minute. If God is sovereign, that is, if He has ordained every detail of what is taking place in our lives, not only in the present but in the future, why should we bother with prayer? Furthermore, since the Bible tells us that 'all things work together for good to those who love God' (Rom. 8:28), shouldn't we content ourselves that what God has ordained is best? Isn't it really just an exercise in futility, and even arrogance, for us to presume to tell God what we need or what we would like to happen? If what He ordains is best, what purpose is served by prayer to Him?"

Here is the spoiler alert: it DOES matter that we pray even if God is sovereign. The bad news here is that I'm not going to tell you why - until tomorrow and the next day. You will have to be content to wait; if you can't do that, you could buy the book and turn to the ending first. UGH. It still feels wrong to say this. :-)