October 20, 2012
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Negotiating with God
Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties withthe intention of coming to an agreement, usually each party is seeking to gainsomething and willing to offer something to gain their desired outcome. To negotiate with God is to imply we want somethingfrom God and we have something God needs or desires. We are indebted to the stories in the HebrewTestament for our concept of God as a man we can negotiate with. Both in the generic sense of man meaninghumankind and the literal sense of God being male, and old, white bearded manat that. A read a commentary that put itthis way, the creation story tells us God created humankind in God’s own image;male and female God created them and humankind has been returning the favorever since by creating God in human form. God is not human, God does not relate to us as one person toanother. God does not need anything wehave. God does desire to have arelationship with us but God does not negotiate with us in order to gain that relationship.
The Hebrew Testament is full of stories of peoplenegotiating with God. Abraham negotiateswith God to save the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, Hannah negotiated with Godfor a child, Moses negotiated with God to spare the Israelites, and so on. Then to story of Job was revealed byGod. I firmly believe this story wasgiven to us because God wanted us to understand our relationship with God. Some suggest that God’s response to Job is ridiculingand demeaning. I don’t see it thatway. I see God’s response to Job asbeing honest. Job and the rest of us donot understand the world as God who created it does. We do not even understand ourselves as Godwho created us does. We do not have thefoundation necessary to criticize God for the way the world is. We do not have the authority to take God totask for failing to be fair or just. When we critique God’s performance, we are speaking out of our arroganceand our refusal to see ourselves as the created. We do not negotiate with God because we havenothing to offer God to convince God to do things our way rather than the wayGod intends.
How often I have heard people say they asked God to dosomething with the promise that they would change their behavior in some way ifGod granted their request. I will quitsmoking if You heal someone, I will give more to the church if You get me abetter job or let me win the lottery, I will attend church regularly if You getme out of a tight spot. How does Godgain by these promises? Does yourquitting smoking improve God’s situation? Does God need your money to be able to survive? Does your coming to church out of obligationbring God any satisfaction? If you areconvicted that God wants you to stop some behavior, it is because God wants youto be healthy and happy and that behavior is preventing you from beingthat. Giving to your church is not apayment to God in exchange for promised goods and services. Giving to your church is how you express yourthanks to God for providing you with a place to learn about God, a place whereyou can come in your grief and joy and share them with God and others, and aplace where you can worship God. Givingto the church is how we assure that others will have a place to learn ofGod. Coming to church should not be anobligation but a privilege. God loveswhen we come together to share our appreciation of all God has done for us andto hear what God would have us to do for others. Church attendance out of obligation rarelysatisfies us and generally annoys God. We should do what we believe God asks of us not to gain favor but thatour life might be all that God intends it to be.
Does this mean we are never to bring our issues, ourconcerns to God? Absolutely not! Jesus taught us to pray, to pray to pray forwhat we need, for forgiveness, and for guidance. Some would suggest the prayer includes a formof barter, forgive us and we will forgive others. I would suggest the connection between beingforgiven and forgiving is that we cannot realize God’s forgiveness until wepractice forgiveness. We will find itdifficult to believe we are forgiven if we cannot find it within ourselves toforgive. Jesus prayed another prayer ofpetition. In the Garden of Gethsemane,Jesus prayed that he not have to drink from the cup God had given to him. Jesus did not barter, he did not declare howmuch more good he could do if he didn’t have to die. He didn’t offer to do something else. He simply asked if the cup could pass fromhim but that he wanted to do what was God’s will. This is how we are to come to God with ourgrievances and our concerns. We ask Godif we or another might be healed and, if not, that God might grant usunderstanding that what happens is in God’s plan. We petition God that we might have asustainable wage and the wisdom to know what is a sustainable wage. We petition God to remove bullying, war,famine, natural disasters and we ask God to show us the ways in which we are torespond in loving healing ways to these events.
We are entering a season of change. You are seeking your settled pastor and I amseeking my new ministry. Let our prayersbe for God’s wisdom and direction and not attempts to negotiate with God to dowhat we think is best. We will all behappier if we recognize God is in charge and we are here to serve, not tolead. Amen.
