How to Negotiate a Contract… with God

Fasting for an answer to prayer sometimes results in what feels like the wrong answer.  But when I fasted for three days about God’s will for my relationship with my boyfriend, I was still surprised when he broke up with me the first day after the fast.  Heartbreak slaps you hard.  It hurts whether or not you are expecting it.  I felt mad, disappointed, and in pain.  If you were to ask me who I was mad at, I am not sure I could answer you.  All I knew was God had promised me a husband and a father for my four daughters.  Their own father disappeared from their lives, leaving the five of us to fend for ourselves.  So I got busy.

The side effect of reading a lot of books on prayer is that one’s mind gets filled with strategies.  By strategies, I do not mean ways to manipulate God into doing what you want.

By strategy, I mean interacting with God in utter honesty about the difference between what He has promised and your own particular experience. 

Spurgeon has a couple books, The Power of Prayer and Prayer and Spiritual Warfare, and when he talks about how the prophets used God’s own words to hold Him to His promises, I got an idea.

1. Document, document, document

Looking back, I am pretty sure the wife of my pastor at the time thought I was crazy.  But my friends and pastors were generous and understanding when I explained my idea of a contract.  I prepared my contract like a legal document.  After all, courtroom imagery shows up everywhere in the Bible. I began with every promise I could find that God listens and answers prayer.  With help from books on God’s promises, I listed them out in what would eventually become a ten page document.

Spurgeon egged me on.  He said in his book that God likes it when we prepare our arguments before him.  After all, arguments are a part of every genuine relationship.  And my examples were the times that God changed his mind because of Moses, Jeremiah, even Hezekiah the king.  And my main point to God was that He had promised these things voluntarily.  I was simply reminding Him.

2. Take it personally

My next phase of argument in my contract was every promise that I felt God had given me personally.  Those of us who delve into God’s word all have a list that feels personal.  For me, one of these was Isaiah 34:15 which reads, “There shall the owl nest and lay and hatch and gather her young in her shadow; yea, there shall the kites be gathered, each one with her mate.”

Now I know that many Bible teachers whom I esteem highly would say that was not written so that Alice could know that God had a mate for her, that I took this verse out of context.  All I can say is that God spoke this to my heart as a personal promise to me. He said I would have a mate because I was more important than birds.  Who is anyone to gainsay what God speaks to my heart?

I remember even at the age of thirteen, arguing with the vicar at the Missouri Synod Lutheran school and church I attended about the personal experiences we have with God.  The vicar said that we should ignore those and only rely on the Word.

While I am never one to dismiss the Word of God, it bears observing that the Bible is a book about people’s experiences with God. 

And if the prophets could argue, then so could I.

3. Make a convincing case

My third and last phase was my own arguments for my case.  I needed the companionship and support of a husband, and my children needed a man in their lives who wouldn’t leave them.  So I laid it all out on the line.  And then I had my pastor, my pastor’s reluctant wife, my best friends and my children sign the contract.  I wanted it official.  I didn’t make demands.  I just said, “Here is what You, the God of the universe have promised me, and here is what I need.”  Then I left it alone. I threw down the gauntlet and left it for God to pick up.

How I met my husband is its own story, but I am grateful every day that He chose for me a husband with a sterling character.  And wouldn’t you know it?  I got married a year to the month later after writing my contract to a wonderful man, a man who has been a selfless father to my daughters.

Boldness is required for this strategy, I know.  But God is a rewarder of those who seek Him and believe that He is.  So don’t be afraid to put your needs, requests, and cries of the heart before Him.  And don’t be afraid to document it either.  God served us papers in the form of the Bible.  Maybe it’s time you served some back.

But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6