He comes up beside you as you are walking on the path, engaging, conversant, amiable, friendly and not threatening in the least. The pleasantries of the day are initially discussed, the weather, which is conducive to a casual stroll, the non-intrusive items of everyday life.
And then you begin to test the spirits.
“Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.” (1st John 4:1)
His ideas of the Most High seem in someway skewed, off kilter, while he recognizes the Sovereignty of the Almighty, he speaks of Him perhaps not as an equal, but as one who in some manner needs us.
“For were we not created for His pleasure? Who else, if not us, would He be able to pour His love upon, His grace and mercy? If not for us, who would there be to obey His commandments, to praise Him, to offer adoration towards Him throughout all eternity?”
He makes sense, in an odd sort of way, for in part, he is correct. Yet it is that word he used, that word “needs.” There seems to be a hint of pride in his voice, as if without us, God would not be satisfied, that something would be missing from His existence.
That without us, there would be no place to reveal His love, He would have no one to place His wrath upon, that the Living God would, in a sense, be empty in His attributes, for there would be no one to express them upon.
“Let them alone: they be blind leaders of the blind. And if the blind lead the blind, both shall fall into the ditch.” (Matt. 15:14)
This my friend is how religions begin.
Consider this, when Cain was cast out, did he still offer sacrifices to the Almighty, and if so, were they ever done properly? Or did he completely forget about God, go about his own way, and create his own God?
“And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.” (Duet. 4:28)
Molech, Dagon, Ashtoreth, the images that Isaac’s wife Rebekah stole from her father’s tent, when do people decide in their own minds just who God is, and can that one they say they serve truly be the Living God, or only one of their imagination?
You do not have to go halfway across the world to see the truth of these words, just spend a few minutes talking with one of your neighbors, and you will soon see they have made-up their own god, usually one that will accept them just as they are. Others choose a god whose scrict rules must be adhered to, whose promises will only be given to those who obey fully and completely all the stipulations placed upon them.
All of them, every one of them, whether it is an organized, well established religious organization, or the construct of a person’s imagination, reveal this truth. That their god needs us in some way, shape or form. Whether it be in some form of works, obedience or fear, their god needs them.
“God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?” (Numb. 23:19)
I am going to leave you with this question, and it should cut you to the core.
Does God need you?
That hint of pride you just felt says yes, He does. But what? Only if you serve Him for His glory?
Humility says He does not, that you are no more than dust in His eyes. And then, you must say also the same thing, that you were only created to serve Him for His glory.
If we are only here for His pleasure, both those who will reside eternally in His Kingdom, and those who will know His wrath in the Lake of Fire for all of time, then are we truly needed by Him for anything more than that?
If we are needed at all?
“Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they are and were created.” (Rev. 4:11)
