When God Does Not Need Our Service
Have you ever felt that you are not serving God to your full capacity? Perhaps you’re marking time at a job that does not use your full potential. Perhaps you just lost a relationship and thus your vision for the future. Perhaps you have an unforeseen illness that saps your vitality. Perhaps your life has devolved into the mundane aspects of caring for an infant or the elderly as your sleep is disrupted and your vision blurs, and your main goal for each day devolves into how you can arrange a nap.
In the vigor of youth, we often imagine (or are told) that we can be whatever we want to be, pursue all our goals, and change the world. We love to hear stories of great Christian men and women who conquered unknown languages, set world records, or reached thousands for Christ. Then, as life happens, and we settle into the callings that God has marked out for us, we can feel rather let down. What happened to all our grand plans and schemes? Sometimes we cannot help but wonder, How many people will even show up at my funeral? Am I making a difference at all?
In Psalm 50, God judges the people of Israel who have made a covenant with Him. They have made this covenant by sacrificing to Him (vs. 5) and by speaking covenantal vows (vs. 14 and 16). The Israelite’s obligation as their part of the covenant was to make sacrifices to the LORD, and yet, in verses 9-15, God declares that He does not need their sacrifices: “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness” (vs. 12). So, which is it? Does God need our service, our sacrifices, or our gifts? Or does He already own everything and, therefore, He needs nothing from us?
God tells us what He wants from His people in verse 15: “Call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me.” And verse 23 explains what glorifying Him looks like: “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the salvation of God.” So what God really wants from us is not our service, sacrifice, gifts, or abilities: what He wants is our hearts. And when our hearts turn to Him, we will call upon Him for help and then glorify Him when He helps us. Part of the way we glorify Him is to offer Him praise, and part of offering Him praise is to sacrifice to Him, giving Him our gifts, abilities, and service. It is a beautiful circle which is designed by God to flow continuously.
Perhaps we should view our service to God in a more realistic manner than our teenage selves envisioned. We are not the ones running the show or even feeding the workers; rather, we are like 2-year-olds running through the kitchen, trying to “help” make cookies by scattering the flour, eating the chocolate chips, and bonking our heads on the table corners.[1] God does not need our service. He called down bread from heaven to feed His people for forty years in the wilderness. Yet, He has chosen to use our service. He asked the Israelites to offer Him sacrifices, when He already owns every single thing in the world. He has infinite power, infinite resources, and infinite love for His people. In His love, He calls us to serve Him fully by simply glorifying Him.
How do we glorify God? By offering Him praise, bringing Him sacrifices, and loving Him fully and in truth. Our lives will show what is in our hearts – God rebukes the wicked for taking His statutes in their mouths when their hearts are far from Him, and their lives are full of wickedness (vs. 16-22). Our lives can be filled with service for God even if – or perhaps especially when – they are filled with the mundane. American culture does not understand the value of a hidden life of sacrifice. I have yet to see a movie that glorifies a woman who is overweight and has bags under her eyes because she has given up her body, her sleep, and her right to herself, for the sake of her baby. Yet God sees her sacrifice and accepts it as an offering that is pleasing to Him.
I am old enough now that I have accepted the fact that I will not change the world. I have been given a smaller sphere of influence than I thought I would have. My focus has narrowed; God has given me this husband and these children; my family is not George Müller with his ten thousand orphans – and never will be. I certainly still have dreams for the future – yet, I have not somehow missed out on God’s best for me. He does not need my service but He chooses to use it. He does not love me for my sacrifices but for the fact that I am His child. I can rest assured of His love, and rejoice even as I sacrifice again and again – for His name and for His sake. And guess what? I will not care how many people are at my funeral, because I will not be there either.
“But do not forget to do good and to share, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased” (Hebrews 13:16).
[1] Thanks to Bruce Buchanan for the basics of this illustration
