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When Moira's husband was killed in a car crash at the age of 35, Moira was understandably devastated. For days she was in shock and hardly knew what she was doing. And since she'd kissed Mike goodbye as usual that morning, she couldn't believe that he was really dead, even though the police arrived at her place of work and told her. But Moira just couldn't take it in.

Then, as it eventually began to dawn on her that it really was true and that she'd never see Mike again, she felt utter, crushing despair. It was then that she began to bargain with God.

"God, don't let it be true and I promise I'll attend church every Sunday for the rest of my life."

"God, if you'll let me wake up and discover this was just a nightmare, I swear I'll say my prayers every single day for ever more."

"God, I'm sorry I haven't taken as much notice of you as perhaps I should, but I promise I'll be better in the future. I really will worship you properly if only you bring Mike back to life again. I'll do anything you say, anything at all."

Of course, none of it worked. Mike was dead and Moira was a widow and God did not hear her bargaining. But God did support Moira all through that awful time of bereavement and did enable her to emerge at the end as a stronger person than she had been, and as somebody who was able find happiness again despite the terrible trauma of that time.

Many of us bargain with God in all sorts of circumstances, especially as a reaction to bereavement. Mostly nothing happens and we're confirmed in our perhaps hidden belief that God won't hear us, even though he may hear other people. If something does happen, such as when we pray for a fine day for the church fete and promise God that we'll never forget him if only he'll do this small thing for us, we usually promptly forget our side of the bargain the minute the church fete is over.

God doesn't work through bargaining and never has, because God is not capricious. God doesn't decide off the top of his head that one person should die in a road accident but that another should live. What God has done is to set certain natural laws into motion and when those laws are broken, there are inevitable consequences.

One natural law is that alcohol affects the brain, so the inevitable consequences of drinking alcohol are that we're less in control of ourselves when we drink alcohol. Another natural law is that if our bodies aren't fed, we lose weight. And yet another natural law is that if our sould aren't fed, we lose spiritual weight.

God has given us all free will, to exercise as we wish. God will never over rule that free will even when we make a mess of our lives. So bargaining with God is not appropriate. It doesn't work.

Except, perhaps, in the case of Abraham. Sodom and Gomorrah were bywords for evil in the ancient world. They were cities known to be full of corruption, although it isn't exactly clear just what form that corruption took. Although Israelite tradition all agreed that the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah was the inevitable result of their wicked ways, the tradition failed to agree about the nature of that wickedness.

The account in Genesis which follows today's story of Abraham bargaining with God, believes the sin to have been homosexuality, hence the term, "sodomy" (Genesis 19:4-5). But other writers have different ideas. Isaiah, with his emphasis on social justice, believes the sin to have been a lack of social justice (Isaiah 1:9-10 and Isaiah 3:9). Ezekiel has a similar belief, describing Sodom and Gomorrah's sin as a "disregard for the poor" (Ezekiel 16:46-51). And Jeremiah sees the sin in terms of a general immorality (Jeremiah 23:14).

Since the writer of Genesis gives us such a lurid and horrific account of the proposed treatment of strangers who were visiting Abraham's nephew Lot, the idea of sodomy as the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah is the idea which has taken root in the human psyche. And since the strangers turned out to be angels, the account becomes even more shocking and one which is remembered in the best tabloid newspaper style. The dreadful way in which the men of Sodom wished to "use" the strangers makes a startling contrast to the hospitality which Abraham showed to strangers who visited him beneath the oaks of Mamre and who also turned out to be angels.

It is astonishing to our modern western ears that Abraham actually dared to bargain with God in such a brazen way, but perhaps even more astonishing that God responded. In the event, God was apparently unable to find even ten good people in the city, so the city suffered its inevitable fate of destruction. So one reason for the bargaining is that Abraham's ploy of bargaining with God serves to highlight the terrible wickedness of the city.

But also, that sort of bargaining is an integral part of eastern life, even today. On a visit to the Holy Land some years ago, I was in a large store in Jericho buying some leather sandals. The price was cheap so I paid immediately, but to my surprise and consternation discovered that I had offended the shopkeeper, who became really angry and disgusted with me. Our guide explained afterwards that I should have bargained with the shopkeeper. By not bargaining with him I had completely spoiled his entertainment and was regarded as a very rude and unpleasant foreigner.

So as well as bargaining with God, Abraham is sharing with God in a particularly intimate and entertaining way. It's clear from this story that Abraham was very close to God and the bargaining technique serves as a means of cementing his friendship with God. A result of this closeness to God is the way in which Abraham's obedience to God and his faith in God increase to legendary proportions, so that Abraham is regarded through the ages as the archetypal figure of outstanding faith.

So perhaps what we can take from this story today is the realisation that we can be so close to God that we can talk to him as if he were a friend. We probably can't offend God whatever we say, because taking umbrage is not part of God's response to human beings. And the closer we grow towards God, then, like Abraham, the greater our faith.