Clearly, a meeting with God can be life changing. Saul the persecutor was transformed into Paul the Apostle.
But some people meet with God, do business, and walk away unchanged. The Old Testament false prophet Balaam appears to be one of these people. He could get a true word from God (Numbers 23:16, etc.), and still be a false prophet. Balaam was reckless (Numbers 22:32) and auctioned his spiritual gifts to the highest bidder (2 Peter 2:15). In the end, as you may recall, Balaam was killed after enticing God’s people into sexual immorality and idolatry (Numbers 31:8, Revelation 2:4).
Just getting a word from the Lord does not automatically mean that we are moving forward spiritually. Jonah got a word from the Lord, but it was the pagan king of Nineveh who repented when he heard it, not Jonah. God had to do more work with Jonah before he started coming around.
Jesus said, “…if you don’t have the simple faith of a child, you can’t find your way into God’s kingdom.” (Mark 10:15 The Easy Bible) Little children are honest. They don’t yet know how to be otherwise. It’s only when telling the truth to themselves and others becomes too painful that they learn to hide behind falsehood.
So, yes. God can deal with anybody. But He transforms those who receive Him with an open heart
Dwight
