What Does God Want From Me?

Psalms 50:7-12 (NIV) ⁷ “Hear, O my people, and I will speak, O Israel, and I will testify against you: I am God, your God. ⁸ I do not rebuke you for your sacrifices or your burnt offerings, which are ever before me. ⁹ I have no need of a bull from your stall or of goats from your pens, ¹⁰ for every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills. ¹¹ I know every bird in the mountains, and the creatures of the field are mine. ¹² If I were hungry I would not tell you, for the world is mine, and all that is in it.

What does God want from me seems to be a reasonable question. But that is not the essential question, because God doesn’t have “wants” as we know them.  He is full.  He is complete. He is the Creator of everything outside of Himself.

Church? Though He give us plenty of direction on the wisdom of going to church He doesn’t need us to attend in order to satisfy Himself.

Finances? Though He gives us lots of directives on our finances, He doesn’t need our money to satisfy Himself, because He is able to multiply to us whatever we give.

Stuff? He doesn’t need our stuff because the earth and everything in it is already His.  Everything we “own” is on loan because we certainly cannot take it with us.

Service? He gives us much instruction on living a life of service, and yet He doesn’t need our service because nothing is impossible for Him to do on His own.

Worship? The Scriptures are filled with exhortations to worship, But He doesn’t need our worship because He could have the rocks cry out, the rivers clap their hands, the mountains sing for joy and the heavens are already declaring His glory.

Love? The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart soul, mind, and strength and yet He doesn’t need our love for Himself because He is love.

The essence of our text from Isaiah 50 and other portions of Scripture like it, is there is nothing we can offer God that He doesn’t already have or that He cannot give to Himself.  God is going to be fine no matter what we do or do not do.

No disdain. This isn’t God expressing contempt or disdain for our efforts and desire to please and serve Him, it is a statement of perspective, a statement that puts our effort into the proper context.  It’s a statement that leads us to the essential question.  It’s not what does God want from us, but what does God want for us.

According to the Scriptures, we were created by Him for His glory (Isaiah 43:7).  He made us to be recipients and reflections of His glory.

What is the glory of God? The glory of God is the manifestation of His attributes, of all that He is.  The glory of God is the manifestation of His power, of His love, of His wisdom, of His beauty and majesty.  God’s glory is the source, of all other glories.

We were created to receive and reflect His glory.

To that end He wants for us the glory that comes from trusting in Him.  The glory that comes from a heart-level, personal relationship with Him that expands and deepens day by day.

He wants for us the glory of knowing Him and continuing to get to know Him.

He wants this for us so His glory fills our lives with out-of-this-world blessings and reflects itself to all around us so they too will be drawn to Himself.  We are the “apple of His eye” because of what He wants to give to us not because of what He wants from us.

The ultimate display of his glory is Jesus Christ Himself.  He is the radiance of the glory of God (Hebrews 1:3).  In Christ we see the expression of the power, the beauty, the wisdom, the love, the justice, the immortality of God.  God’s glory is displayed in the face of Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6).

For those who have placed their faith in Him, a walk with Christ through this life is often an unexpected, unlikely and fascinating journey. We have been blessed to not only have the Lord in our life, but we are also included in His life and invited to participate in the glory of His works.  That’s the amazing arrangement we have been given: a mutual sharing of our lives with the living God.

I said to the Lord, you know Lord, “If you don’t mind, I would rather not focus on my life today, I would rather just tag along with You as You live Your life and be part of it.”

LaVern.  The Lord is alive in His people and living through His people.

Dave.  The Lord is living His life working in His people.

Emma.  God is living His life doing special things for us that only we can truly appreciate as coming from Him.

Nadesh.  Creation doing its thing is God living His life.  It is nature being powered by the supernatural power of God.

Jeremiah 9:23-24.  God wants us to understand and know Him as the one who is exercising lovingkindness, justice, and righteousness on earth. Where there is love and mercy on earth there is God at work. Where there is justice on earth, there is God at work. Where there is righteousness on earth, there is God at work.

So God let me tag along as requested and see Him living His life.  Afterwards I realized my spiritual desires and aspiration.  The desire to seek Him.  The desire to be more like Him.  The desire to know Him better.  All of these are responses to His initiation.

So I’m always just tagging along.

The Lord wants to share His glory with every person.  This is why Jesus came to earth.  To make this sharing of life possible.  And that is what God wants for us.