Is God reasonable?

When I was thirteen, I had a paper route in Chester, Virginia.  I delivered sixty issues of the Richmond Times every weekday afternoon.  There was hardly a level section of road,  it was hard work.  In the summer, the humidity and temperature of central Virginia can be brutal.  I remember stopping my bike on an uphill, noticing a small white cloud in the sky, and praying a fervently as I could for God to cause that cloud to pour down sufficient rain to bring my mother to pick me up and finish the route.  God didn’t, so Mom didn’t.  And I questioned God’s concern for my well-being.  Sixty years later, I still remember that prayer and lack of God’s response.

Can I talk God into changing His mind about a direction my life is going or cause Him to act where He seems to be idle?  Can I give God reasons, my conclusions on the optimal outcome of a circumstance, and in response, He changes His direction.  Can I convince God to act or take a specific action?

Isaiah, recording the words God speaks into his heart, says, “Come, let us reason together…” {1:19)  Is God asking for me to sit down with Him so I can give Him my thoughts so He can take them into account in some action?  Is He going to adapt his plan to accommodate me?  Does the Infinite seek the council of the finite? (This would be a good time to read Job 38-40.)

Ultimately, it is a question of my understanding of the person of God, do I trust him? Can I trust Him?  Is some other Believer’s prayer for an exemption in their life circumstances going to cause complications in my mine? 

Is God unchanging?  Theologian lists this under the heading of God’s “Immutability.”  Obviously, there is a lot more water in this bucket than we can drink in this little thought, but still, it’s good to have  a “bucket to ponder.”

Back to the question, “Is God reasonable?”  Can we reason with Him?  The short answer is, “Why would we want to?”  He sees what I cannot see.  He knows what I cannot know. He does what I cannot do.  Prayer is primarily about two things, being close to the Creator of our person, and getting to know Him with increasing intimacy.  Prayer is much more about bringing something to God than getting something from God.  He will be good to us because that is what Proverbs revealed, His Holiness. 

Photo: This picture was taken behind our house.