From Micah: God's Take on Shady Business Dealings

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From Micah 6:11-16:


“Shall I acquit the man with wicked scales and with a bag of deceitful weights?

Your rich men are full of violence; your inhabitants speak lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their month.

Therefore I strike you with a grevious blow, making you desolate because of your sins.

You shall eat, but not be satisfied, and there shall be hunger within you;
You shall put away, but not preserve, and what you preserve I will give to the sword.
You shall sow, but not reap; you shall tread olives, but not anoint yourselves with oil;
You shall tread grapes, but not drink wine.

For you have kept the statutes of Omri, and all the works of the house of Ahab; and you have walked in their counsels, that I may make you a desolation, and your inhabitants a hissing; so shall you bear the scorn of my people.”

If you have read the Old Testament, you will recognize the names of Omri and Ahab as kings who disrespected and disregarded God’s rules and guidelines is the meanest possible ways. The “counsels”, or advice and suggestions, based on the actions of men like Omri and Ahab lead to God’s disfavor and to later destruction.

God is pretty clear about this. He does not buy into the “buyer beware” school of trading and business agreements. God says: seller be honest. Business owner: use full disclosure. Trader: use honest measures and evaluations. Negotiator: tell the full truth and nothing but the full truth.

Can anyone in business really afford to function in this way?

 Yes, if you are following God and are willing to let God guide your progress and your success. God makes good on His word and has the most incredible ways of making things work out for you when you willingly chose to do what’s right while everyone else is saying it’s not possible to be fully good or fully honest.

If you are trying to “make it happen” some other way, you are truly on your own.

 Still, God does not honor or reward dishonesty in our personal lives or in our business dealings. From God’s viewpoint, there is no such thing as “personal honestly” versus “smart business dealings.” Anything apart from His standard of truthfulness brings His displeasure and His correction.
  

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