Making Deals With God

Have you ever tried making a deal with God, or made a promise to Him in times of great despair? "God, I promise to be a more charitable person if you let me get this job." God, I promise I will go to church every day if you let my parent, my friend, my dog live through this tragedy."

If you have ever experienced a moment like this, you know that in those moments you are 100 percent willing to do anything, anything at all, that might make it possible for you to see the outcome you desire most at that time. You become willing to believe in something that maybe you didn't believe in before, but hey if miracles really do happen, now would be a great time to experience one. On the one hand, it may seem like the right thing to do because you are coming to God in your time of need. You are asking Him to do something for you, reminiscent of, "Ask and you shall receive."  However, unlike the true meaning of "Ask and you shall receive" these bargains are almost never aligned with the true will of God.

These kinds of deals, promises, or bargains often come only after one has reached a point of desperation. They come with a wave of confession for lack of faith and obedience. And while there is never a wrong time to reach out to God, whether in desperation or in abundance, we should always acknowledge God's love and His will.

But in these moments, it becomes all about what we want. The narrative becomes self-centered: "God, if you do what I want, then I promise I will do what you want." rather than God-centered: "God, please help me to know and do your will, and give me the strength and wisdom to seek after it always."

Let's think about the self-centered narrative and what it is really happening:

1. We are talking to God. - This is known as prayer. The Lord's Prayer––found in the bible, exemplifies the types of things we are to ask of the Lord during prayer. We are to acknowledge God's perfection, and ask that His will be done. When we seek God's will, we faithfully promise to hold the intention of fulfilling His will. Prayer is not a mechanism to tell God what we want, unless what we want is God's will. It is God's will that we have the fruits of the spirit, and that we obey Him.
2. We are assuming that we know better than God. - When we suggest that God should do what we want, we are saying that we trust ourselves more than we trust Him to know what should or shouldn't be done. Or, we are saying that our faith in Him loses value when we desire something strongly. 
3. We are behaving as though we have authority over God. - God is the author of creation. The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. He knows what awaits us after physical death. He alone has authority over all creation. This is something we, as created beings must accept. We are not all-knowing, we are not all-powerful, we do not have authority over Him. We are His children and He is our Father.
4. We are making a promise we cannot keep. - As sinful, imperfect human beings, we are incapable of doing the right thing all the time. Even if and when our intentions are good, we make mistakes, we have lapses of judgment, we have moments of selfishness. When you make a promise you know you can't even keep, even if you have the best intentions, what you are really doing is lying.
5. We are holding our obedience for ransom. - The only thing God ever asked of us is obedience. When we say, "You do this for me, God, and then I will do what you want," what we are actually doing is holding our obedience for ransom. To make matters worse, when you know what God wants, but have not been doing it out of your own will, and now you suggest that you will begin doing what He wants, only if He gives you what you want first, you are showing a great deal of disrespect. You are also attempting to tempt God––to stray from His will to fulfill yours. Even though God can never succumb to temptation, it is not of good character to try.

As you can see from the points above, making deals with God is not a good thing to do for many reasons. God is the ultimate authority.

We do not have the right to offer God anything in exchange for His works. We don't get to receive miracles on demand. We do not know what is best for us like God does. He is the loving Father, and we are the children––this is a commonplace family structure which we all know about. Except in this case, our father isn't just the world's best barbecuer, our Father created the entire universe and everything in it.

God does not negotiate, He does not owe us anything, all that He does for us and gives to us is by His grace. We are to trust in Him first, do His will first and He will bless us according to His will. 

Don't wait until you are in a place of despair to start living the way you already know you should be. Don't wait until it's too late to believe in the possibility of miracles, to believe in the love of God. Do not offer obedience to God as a bargaining tool for selfish desires. 

Live in obedience to God and Jesus right now, read the bible to better understand His plan for His creation. Pray often for strength in faith, guidance to follow His will, and patience while weathering life's many struggles. God loves you and wants to help you. You don't need to make fruitless deals or promises to God to have your way. Just trust in Him, that His way is best, and that He will help you through it every step of the way. 

Now is the time to serve God and call upon the name of His son Jesus Christ for all your needs.