Manipulation of God…..

“O Lord, I will honor and praise your name, for you are my God.
You do such wonderful things!
You planned them long ago,
and now you have accomplished them.”  Isaiah 25:1  NLT

The second misconception of God that we must avoid is that He is able to be manipulated.  

The modern manipulation of God is extremely subtle, but the heart of it lies in a kind of selfish humanism.   God is looked upon as existing to serve my needs; not I existing to serve God’s needs.

There are two biblical examples of this: Simon the magician and Micah the Ephraimitie.

Simon wanted to buy the Holy Spirit with money, to add to his storehouse of magical powers. So offended was Simon Peter that he responded: “You are in the gall of bitterness and in the bondage of iniquity.” (Acts 8:23)   That gross usage of God was commercial in motive; Simon simply wanted to get rich by using God.

The same motive drove Micah of Ephraim to set up a shrine in his home and to hire a Levite to become his priest. “Now I know that the Lord will prosper me, seeing I have a Levite as priest.”  (Judges 17:10-13)

That manipulation of God had no reference to obedience, worship, or the glorification of God; it was the same as the worship of idols.  It looked good but was wrong.  

Sound familiar?

Perhaps my use of God is nowhere near the crude misuse of Him by those two, but the pressure to bargain or bribe is always there. 

Do I pray, attend church and tithe my income in order to receive special favors, or do I do those things out of realizing who God is and for the joy of obeying the majestic, glorious God of the universe?

Do I seek to please Him in order that my loved ones may be healed and/or saved or is it because I love Him so much I could not do otherwise? 

Do I write “for my gain” or “for God’s glory?”  I must ask these questions over everything I do for Him?

The difference is manipulating God or ascribing my song of praise to His worthiness.

“You are worthy, our Lord and God,
to receive glory and honor and power,
for you created all things,
and by your will they were created
and have their being.”  Rev. 4:11 NIV