no negotiations

As a boy, I used to bargain with God. If he would get me something I wanted, or would spare me the consequences of my own stupidity, then I would be extra good, or pray more, or do something else I thought God might value.

Rather than negotiate with God, adults are more likely to try to manipulate him. That’s what Hophni and Phinehas, Eli’s two priest-sons, did. They thought that if they brought the Ark of the Covenant into battle against the Philistines, God would have to fight the Philistines. Otherwise the Ark would be desecrated.

The story played out in three simple sentences in 1 Samuel 4:10-11. “So the Philistines fought, and the Israelites were defeated and every man fled to his tent. The slaughter was very great; Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers. The ark of God was captured, and Eli's two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, died.”

On that day, a disastrous defeat was God’s preferred course. Maybe that’s because it most clearly revealed to Israel the true relationship between Him and them. They were to inquire of God, and then obey. To decide on their own and then attempt to drag God along showed a badly distorted understanding of the covenant.

God doesn’t care as much about my won-lost record day to day as he does about how I see Him in relationship to me. Probably, if I think even once that I got God to serve me, I’d try it all the time after that. What God wants from me is an inquiring openness that says, “Just help me see what you want, Lord, and I’ll do it. Just help me trust that this hard thing isn’t too hard for you.”