Pondering – “Does God Need Us?”

I recently read a blog article from one of my friends that was entitled “Does God Need Us?” Timothy McPherson’s blog site is – http://latitudinarismus.blogspot.com/

Does God Need Us?
That question reverberated in my heart.
It sent me wandering down unknown corridors of my life…places I’ve been afraid to go, or afraid to ask such questions.   It caught me off guard, and yet it has been a question that has been rolling around in my head for sometime now.

A follow-up question that I’ve wondered too is “Have I inflated my opinion of myself?” 
I often ponder this.
I am curious if you’re at all like me…if this comes to the surface of your life as well.
I wonder if we see the ourselves in a much different light than God sees us?
Do we think too highly of ourselves?
How big are our egos? – an honest/gut-checking question that seems to knock the wind out of us every time.

Micah 6:8 sets us straight – “…and to walk humbly with Thy God…”

Ego Kicked To The Curb…
I am not a biblical scholar by any means, but I know that within my heart  God certainly doesn’t need us.  My control over circumstances and situations give ME power.  My job, my ministry, the words I am writing right now…in the grand scheme of things, carries very little weight in comparison to a mighty Creator who SPOKE the Universe into being.

 

So…Does God need me (You)?  
Did He need me (You) when he loosed a flood upon the wicked and saved a small family in an ark with a whole lot of livestock? -No.
Did He need me (You) when He guided a ruddy youth to slay a giant Philistine?  -No.
Did He need me (You) when He sent His only Son into the world? -No.
Did He need me (You) when the day of  Pentecost came? -No.
Does He need us now?  No.
If that doesn’t deflate our egos, I don’t know what will.

BUT, perhaps an appropriate follow-up question is –
Does God long to commune and fellowship with His Creation?
And the answer is ABSOLUTELY!  -YES!!!

God doesn’t need us –
To advertise His goodness.
To convince sinners of their sinfulness and of God’s grace.
To do “Church” work for Him.
To win souls…
To play the best music we can possibly play…
To write the best prose we can about Him…

God doesn’t need us to do all of these things.
He doesn’t have to use our pitiful offerings or our “best foot forward”..(sorry)
All of these things can become arbitrary, routine, and pointless if we forget why we are “doing” these things in the first place.

God’s first request is for us is to “Be Holy as He is holy” (Lev 11:44)
Perhaps it’s not so much about God needing us as it is about us BEING like Him.
He could do without us…

God longs for our fellowship.
God wants our hearts, our lives, our moment by moment experiences, our joys AND our deepest darkest cliff-hanger moments…He wants to journey along with us.  After all “Emmanuel” means “God with us”.  Proverbs 18:24 says, “…but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

Does God need us?  No.
But does God long for our fellowship and our constant connection with Him? -Yes.
This is where grace starts.
This is where God comes to OUR pitiful level…all because of love.
Were it not for His grace – none of this would matter.
None of our flowery speeches, or our eloquent rituals…nothing places us in His presence…nothing we can do is ever good enough.  Thus grace entered.  Thus Christ took our shame.  Thus life instead of death.  Thus hope instead of utter despair.

No God doesn’t need us…but we need Him.
O how we need Him!

Thank you for the reminder!
Something more to ponder today!