No Deals

No Deals

Read Micah 6:1–7:20

1. Listen to what the Lord is saying: “Stand up and state your case against me. Let the mountains and hills be called to witness your complaints.
2. And now, O mountains, listen to the Lord’s complaint! He has a case against his people. He will bring charges against Israel.
3. O my people, what have I done to you? What have I done to make you tired of me? Answer me!
4. For I brought you out of Egypt and redeemed you from slavery. I sent Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to help you.
5. Don’t you remember, my people, how King Balak of Moab tried to have you cursed and how Balaam son of Beor blessed you instead? And remember your journey from Acacia Grove to Gilgal, when I, the Lord, did everything I could to teach you about my faithfulness.” Micah 6:1-5

The only thing worse than giving the sales pitch for a defective piece of merchandise is falling for it. Has that ever happened to you? At first you say no, but the insistent salesperson keeps at you until you cave in. Suddenly you feel like part of the problem. “Never again,” you vow.

In this reading of Micah’s prophecies you will see that the people of Israel tried to sell God on a bad idea. They thought that he could be bought or bribed into changing his mind about their sins. But a holy God won’t exchange sacrifices for permission to sin. “No deal,” God says.

Israel had forgotten how kind God had been to them. As a result, they were ungrateful and unresponsive to him and became cheaters, liars, and blackmailers. When Micah explained that they would suffer God’s judgment for their sins, they tried to make a deal with God. “What’s your price?” they asked him. “What do you want us to give you to leave us alone? Do you want more sacrifices?” Basically, the people wanted to continue sinning, appeasing God with some sort of penance or payment. But Micah told the Israelites that God wasn’t interested in their offer and that he wanted them “to do what is right, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with . . . God” (Micah 6:8).

God cannot be bought, and we should not attempt to purchase the right to sin with confessions, penances, or sacrifices. We cannot “balance out” our bad deeds with good ones. Pleasing God means giving up all our sins, even the ones we love dearly, and living by God’s standards of righteousness, as we depend on his help and presence at every step.

When you give to God, do it out of love and obedience, not out of a desire to buy him off.