God the Magic Genie?

Modern-day Christians are fans of the Genie-in-a-lamp concept. We treat God like a Genie to be called on and/or manipulated into doing what we want. When found in tough situations, we rationalize, reason with, and beg God to handle the situation according to OUR standards with little regard for His. We know best, after all!

Sadly, American Christians are hardly the pioneers in this realm of reasoning. Ancient Israel cornered the market on the approach-God-as-a-Genie subject, a pathetic tributary to man’s fallibility.

The Philistines drew up in battle array to meet Israel. When the battle spread, Israel was defeated before the Philistines who killed about four thousand men on the battlefield. When the people came into the camp, the elders of Israel said, ‘Why has the Lord defeated us today before the Philistines? Let us take ourselves from Shiloh the ark of the covenant of the Lord, that it may come among us and deliver us from the power of our enemies.’
1 Samuel 4:2-3

If God is a genie, the Ark of the Covenant is His lamp. In the Old Testament, God graciously chose to manifest His presence among His people in the Ark of the Covenant, which resided in several locations until the Temple was built and it rested in the Holy of Holies.

Israel was given strict guidelines for approaching and transporting the Ark. No one could touch the Ark itself without being struck by God’s hand of judgment. It was carried by several men holding the poles that were attached to it. The Ark commanded great reverence and was undoubtedly the most holy relic Israel ever possessed.

Over time, idolatry crept into the minds and hearts of the Israelites. The holy lost its awe among the people; the revered became the been-there-and-done-that.

When the Israelites found themselves in a pickle (i.e. defeated by the Philistines in battle), they resorted to their secret weapon and magic lamp—the Ark of the Covenant. They’re thought process went something like, “Surely if we bring the Ark into battle with us, God will secure our victory! He wouldn’t let anything happen to the Ark!”

In essence, they tried twisting God’s hand by using His Ark as leverage. They approached God as their Genie who resided in their Ark-lamp they rallied behind. Disregarding God completely, they attempted to manipulate His power into serving their purposes.

Desiring God evaded their minds entirely. They cared not for who He is, but what He could do…for them. No surprise, the results were disastrous (the Philistines destroyed them in battle again and captured the ark). The irony? The Israeliteswere surprised their Genie-in-a-lamp escapade didn’t work!

An unfortunate and one of many embarrassments for Israel. They were so blinded by their own sin they didn’t realize their own ridiculousness.

Idolatry does that. One great definition of idolatry I love is by Scotty Smith:
“An idol is anything we trust in for deliverance in the place of Jesus and His grace.”

In all ironies, Israel’s idolatry revolved around God—using Him as a means to their end rather than Him being the end of their means—and missing Him entirely in the process.

We do this ALL THE TIME. We seek deliverance through our accomplishments and ability to manipulate God into acting on our behalf. We rub the magic lamp of Scripture or church attendance expecting God to reward us in ways we deem appropriate.

The audacity of this posture is appalling and has no place in the Gospel of Christ.

The Gospel is God’s grace. The only aspect we attribute to the Gospel is the reason we need it in the first place. Unlike Israel, we must let God’s sovereign grace penetrate every aspect of our minds and hearts to the point where we can’t help but fall prostrate in humility before Him.
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God is not a genie; He has no magic lamp. We exist to glorify Him, and if it takes death for that goal to be realized so be it. He is our life, our song and our reason for living. Squash the Genie-in-a-lamp mentality and surrender to the holy and all-powerful God who deserves our ALL.