Is It Okay to Bargain With God?

Is it okay to bargain with God?

Can we have a “transactional” relationship with God based on a sort of barter system, where you give a little here in order to receive a little there?

A man named Richard told me he grew up with that understanding, and as it turned out that was the beginning of the end for his belief in God’s very existence.

The problem, according to Richard, is that God didn’t seem to hold up His end of the bargain when it came to keeping his parents together during his teens, and he became increasingly skeptical as he experienced more and more disappointments in life.

It often seems we are surrounded by skeptics as more and more people are learning to cherry-pick what seem to be broken promises from the Bible and to put a negative spin on the rest, and Richard indeed listened to those negative voices, first from his skeptical older brother and then from others.

I wanted to be a positive voice of faith speaking into Richard’s life and pushing back a little on those negative voices, so first I wondered where he might have gotten that idea that our dealings with God should be conducted as if we are equal trading partners.

But we are not equal partners, and we should not act like we are in a position to make demands or impose our expectations on God. The Bible is clear from the start that God is God and we are not, that He holds every card as Creator, and a right relationship with God begins as we begin to fear Him, especially since in big and small ways we have rebelled against His rule and authority in our lives.

The Bible also tells us that while a right relationship with God must begin with “the fear of the Lord”, it doesn’t have to end up there. We may not be in a position to barter with God as an equal, not to mention a relationship conducted entirely on our own terms, but the One who is in the position to dictate the terms of that relationship offers much more than a business deal.

Listen to how Paul describes it in Galatians 4:4-7: “But when the right time finally came, God sent his own Son. He came as the son of a human mother and lived under the Jewish Law, to redeem those who were under the Law, so that we might become God's children. To show that you are his children, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who cries out, “Father, my Father.” So then, you are no longer a slave but a child. And since you are his child, God will give you all that he has for his children.”

This is not a description of a business relationship. This is family, and for those who are on the outside and not yet adopted into God’s family, you are reading a letter written and intended for those who are. And if you’ve had the patience to carefully read thus far, you may just be headed in that direction yourself. Not to a transactional business relationship, but to a family of millions, all in varying degrees of maturity and immaturity for sure, but all able to be in a right relationship with the Father through Jesus the Son.

Thanks Richard, for an interesting conversation. It can be seen at https://youtu.be/XMm5w9cPfp4 on my YouTube channel.