The Attempt To Manipulate God

And Balaam said unto Balak, Build me here seven altars, and prepare me here seven oxen and seven rams. And Balaam said unto Balak, Stand by thy burnt offering, and I will go: peradventure the Lord will come to meet me: and whatsoever he sheweth me I will tell thee. And he went to an high place. Numbers 23:1‭, ‬3 KJV

All over scripture, people have made attempts to manipulate God to change His mind on the things He has already spoken. However, its an aspect of Theodicy that God is immutable. That is to say He does not change. He cannot be bribed or threatened to change what He has said( Heb.13:8 ). For Baalam, that would be mere talk. As far as he was concerned, any god could change his mind if the sacrifice was big enough. Balaam’s thought was not different from the mind set of our local medicine men. We need to understand the purpose of sacrifice before it is made. In this matter, God had spoken once, He was not about to change his mind. Unfortunately, there are Christians who believe they can make God do what they want. Here is what one scholar says, ” God is not a machine, force, law or man, He is God and cannot be manipulated by anyone. Instead we must seek to do His will and enjoy His grace”. Another says, ” God cannot be manipulated into giving us victory or providing the answer we seek.
Invariably, our hearts and minds have their agenda. We want what we want when we want it. We can flip the Bible until we find the answer we want”. These scholars were not discussing Baalam. One was actually concerned with Zedekiah who went several times to find out whether God has changed His mind about their coming under Babylonian captivity. God didn’t. God is not a genie in a bottle. Paul say: He has spoken once…Have you tried to manipulate God with tithes and offerings? He does not move by such things. He is moved by obedience to His word.