What God Really Wants

“Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” (Ps 50:14-15 AV)

The context of these verses begins in verse eight.  God states He will not reprove the nation for their neglect of offering sacrifices if they would simply be grateful for the grace He provides and lives according to their vows of holy living.  He further states that as a God who is self-sufficient and owns all, He is in need of nothing they could offer; that is, except for a grateful and obedient heart.  The LORD even throws out the impossible hypothetical that if He did have necessities of life, He wouldn’t tell them because all He really desires is a grateful and obedient heart.  We can get so structured in our religious practices that we think that is all God requires.  Church attendance, church ordinances, or traditions that our Christian life demands.  What we really fail to see is that all God wants is a grateful heart which shows that gratitude by striving to walk in obedience to His word.

There was an event of my childhood that has stuck with me all these years.  Each of us siblings had their specific chores which were assigned to us.  They were age appropriate.  Dad would not require that someone as young as five mow the lawn.  Some of these chores were lawn care, making milk (those of you who are old enough to know what that means will understand), babysitting, setting up for meals, cleaning up after meals, washing dishes, shopping with Mom, taking out the garbage on Thursdays, going with Mom to the bakery outlet once a month, etc.  We would advance from one chore to the next.  At one time or another, we all had to do each.  When it was my turn to take out the garbage for about a year, I would forget from time to time.  Not a good thing.  A family of thirteen can produce a lot of garbage.  On particular time, when I saw the garbage truck go by and knew that I had forgotten, I went to my Dad’s den and was truly humble and sorry that I had failed.  “I am so sorry for missing the pick-up today, Dad.  Please forgive me.”  I expected a bit of compassion and mercy. Instead, what I got was, “You say that you love me and you say that you are sorry.  If that were so, you would not have forgotten to put the trash out.”  That hurt more than any other punishment that I could have received.  But, he was right.

We do that which is easy.  When we express our love to the LORD, we often get into a rut, thinking actions will suffice.  What God really wants is gratitude for His grace and obedience to His word.  That is all.  Sure, He will be pleased if we offer a bit more when the offering plate comes around.  Sure, He will be pleased if we do not miss one special meeting.  Sure, He will not turn away our efforts to read our Bibles through one in a year.  However, if in the midst of all those easy things, we are complaining about life and still struggle in the sin which He has guaranteed victory, all those others have far less value.  God is a great and benevolent God.  He deserves our gratitude and obedience.