You Can’t Bribe God

When Naaman went to Israel seeking a miracle cure for his leprosy, he brought with him ten talents of silver, six thousand pieces of silver and ten changes of raiment. He was a great man with a huge wealth of resources and he wanted to make sure that he brought enough to secure his miracle. The irony of trying to bribe God for a miracle is that God created the entire universe, so any wealth or riches we could offer, however vast or impressive, is already His. The Lord had to gently correct Naaman's understanding of how His mercy works. Elisha sent a servant to instruct Naaman to bathe seven times in the river Jordan. If the great man Naaman could let go enough of his pride to lower himself into some rinky dink river in some backwater corner of the empire, on the orders of a servant, no less, than perhaps Naaman could let go enough of his pride to see clearly that God's love is not something that can be bought, nor His power something that can be negotiated. Anything we might use to buy a miracle from God is His already. All we can do is show Him the love of a child for their Father, and have the graciousness to submit to whatever loving conditions our Father places on us to ensure that our hearts and minds are in the right place to take full advantage of the gifts He freely gives us.