Spiritual Hiccups - What Does God Want from Us?

If you explore the historical origins of religious sacrifices -- burnt offerings and such -- you will discover how ancient people thought of the gods as needing such sacrifices to survive.  These offerings somehow provided sustenance to gods who would die without them.  In fact there is a Near Eastern flood myth with strong resemblances to the Noah story in which the gods have to end the flood because they are wasting away without these sacrifices.

Contrast that with God's speech from today's psalm.
   If I were hungry, I would not tell you,

       for the world and all that is in it is mine.

   Do I eat the flesh of bulls,

       or drink the blood of goats?

Israel came to realize that Yahweh did not "need" people in the manner of many, ancient gods.  Yahweh was no local deity who depended on the region's inhabitants.  God was Lord of all, without need in any conventional sense.  And that raises an interesting question.  If God does not need anything from us, just what does God want from us?

One thing that becomes clear about God from the Bible is how Yahweh is an expansive God, a God who goes out from godself in love and creative energy.  The first of the Creation stories in Genesis depicts a God who simply creates.  God is not building something with a utilitarian purpose.  Rather this is about beauty and joy and goodness.  God says, "Let's create this," and God does.  And it is "good," our translation of a much thicker Hebrew word meaning pleasing, excellent, enjoyable to look at, etc.  

This God who seems to revel in creating, who is pleased with how it all turns out, nonetheless does not hover over that creation.  God allows creation much freedom, but longs for it to be filled with the joy, and love and goodness that is a part of its beginnings.  And so when creation goes awry, when the human creature goes awry, what God seems to want most is for things to be set right, for it to all be good once more.

In that sort of goodness, the powerful do not exploit the weak, people are not exploited and oppressed, no one need be poor so others can be rich, and all people recognize their dependence as creatures, beings who are remarkably made with incredible gifts and abilities, but who are still creatures dependent on their Creator for life itself.  

This is the sort of world Jesus is talking about when he comes proclaiming God's Kingdom, the rule of God where creation is set right.  And that brings me back around to that question of what God wants from us.  It seems it is more a matter of what God wants for us.  God wants us to be part of true goodness, life that is beautiful, pleasing, excellent, a joy to behold, right, and driven by love.  The real question is whether or not we will trust Jesus to show us the way to such goodness.

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