Here is a question that sounds like something an atheist would ask to trip you up, but I promise you, it is a question that every sincere follower of Jesus has thought about at some point: Why should we pray when God already knows what is going to happen?
If you have ever sat down to pray and thought, “He already knows what I need, so what’s the point?”—you are in good company. You are asking a question that Scripture actually answers. And the answer is more layered and more beautiful than you might expect. So, let’s break the bread of life together and find out.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gave His disciples remarkable reason to trust in the work and love of God. He pointed to the birds of the air and the flowers of the field as illustrations of God’s providence. And He also set us up to ask the big question: why ask when He already knows?
Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? … So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
Matthew 6:26, 28–30
Jesus makes this point explicit: God already knows what you need before you ask. He says it in the next section of this passage:
Therefore do not worry, saying, “What shall we eat?” or “What shall we drink?” or “What shall we wear?” For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things.
Matthew 6:31–32
So here is the tension. In the same sermon where Jesus puts God’s complete knowledge of our needs on full display, He also instructs His disciples how to pray. Just a few verses before saying, “For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things,” Jesus instructed:
In this manner, therefore, pray:
Matthew 6:9–11
Our Father in heaven,
Hallowed be Your name.
Your kingdom come.
Your will be done
On earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And then, just a chapter later, He instructs:
Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened. Or what man is there among you who, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a serpent? If you then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father who is in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!
Matthew 7:7–11
So which is it, Jesus? Does God already know what we need—or do we need to ask? The answer is yes. Both. Let me give you four reasons why we pray, even though God already knows.
1. We are commanded to.
I know that sounds like a non-answer, but it is actually the most foundational one. We pray because God tells us to. That is not a small thing. If the Creator of the universe, who knows the end from the beginning, instructs His creatures to come to Him in prayer, the wisest thing we can do is obey—trusting that He has a purpose for it, even if we cannot fully articulate it. But that purpose isn’t as elusive as it seems.
2. Jesus modeled it.
No one in the history of earth understood better that God already knows what we need and how He will provide than Jesus. And yet, He spent enormous amounts of time in prayer with the Father. The gospel accounts record Him withdrawing to pray before major decisions, during moments of intense pressure, and even in the hour before His arrest and crucifixion. If the Son of God, in whom dwelt all the fullness of the Godhead bodily, prioritized prayer, what does that say to us? We follow in the steps of Jesus. That includes prayer.
3. Prayer builds our proper posture.
Every single time we come to God in prayer, it requires humility. And that humility does something important in us—it reminds us that we are not the ones holding this universe, and much less our own lives, together. We do not depend on our own ability, our own intelligence, or our own strength to provide. We depend on a God who loves us.
It’s true that we are dependent on God whether we pray or not. His hand sustains every breath we take. But the activity of prayer is what builds our awareness of that dependence. It shapes our posture. When we pray, we are not informing God of anything He does not already know. We are aligning ourselves with His will and surrendering our grip on the outcome. So when we reach that outcome, we can have genuine peace with it, knowing we have placed it into the hands of the One who cares most for us and who can always see the end from the beginning.
4. Our prayers actually affect the outcome.
This is where it gets really interesting. Scripture does not just tell us that God is listening. It shows us, repeatedly, that the outcome of a situation can actually be affected by our prayers. Not as if we are manipulating a vending machine or video game—but as if we are participants in something God is doing.
In Numbers 14, there was a dramatic moment where God told Moses that He was going to wipe out the children of Israel entirely and start over with Moses. This was not the only time Israel’s rejection of God brought things to that point, and it was not the only time Moses stepped in, interceded through prayer, and begged God not to do it. And the text says that God relented. Similarly, Abraham prayed and negotiated on behalf of righteous people in Sodom, and the text shows God responding to that intercession.
What is going on there? Are these fallible, finite human beings actually influencing the actions of the infinite God of the universe? The text says yes. And that leaves us with, perhaps, an even heavier question. We’ve been asking, “Why should I pray when God already knows?” But considering the fact that our prayers can actually change the outcome, we should pause to ask, “What if I don’t pray, even when God knows?”
Which brings us to another question, one you are probably already forming in your mind: How can God change His mind? Does that not conflict with His sovereignty and immutability? Does it mean God made a mistake? Those are fair questions, and we’ll get to them in a moment. First, let me tie together what we have established and add one more point.
God knows what we need. God can see the end of every situation while we are still living through the beginning. And yet He instructs us to pray, because prayer is not primarily about transferring information to God. It is about dependence, humility, and participating in what He is doing in the world. And it all happens by and through His grace. It is about aligning our will to His. And yes, it is about a God who actually listens and responds.
Additionally, we need to remember that prayer is not only about petitioning God—asking Him to do something, or asking to receive something. Prayer, if it is done biblically, is also about building a relationship with God through His Son and His Spirit, and it is about reminding us who God is. In prayer, ask for things. Jesus instructs you to. But also praise God, rejoice in His love, and tell Him how you’re feeling. One of the best ways to shape that aspect of your prayer life is to spend time in the Psalms daily.
Here’s a warning: One genre of the Psalms you will come across is what scholars call the Imprecatory Psalms. In those Psalms, David and others pray to God to bring justice and sometimes violence towards their enemies. Those are hard prayers to pray, and we sometimes wonder if we’re even allowed to pray them. If you’ve wondered that, check out this study right here.
Now, the question of how God can change His mind without compromising His nature: You can dig into that question right here.