If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine (Psalm 50:12)
The creator of everything is not in need, neither does he depend on anything outside himself. Yet, people give their tithes to God and think as though they did a favor to God. We serve in ministry and could think as though we are doing a big favor to God. It is self-deception if we live as though God depends on us. The above verse shatters such illusions and calls us to count our giving and serving as privileges we are in need for our own good. There is something quite interesting in this Psalm. Right after saying that God doesn’t depend on anything and expect nothing from anyone, the very next verse goes on to say, “offer to God thanksgiving...call upon me in the day of trouble”(vs.14,15). If God expects nothing from anyone, then why the Psalmist is asking us to offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving and call upon Him? The simple answer is that, it is not God who needs us, but we need Him. God is not hungry, but we are hungry for meaning and significance, which we have only in Him. We forget that everything we have is graciously from Him and therefore need to give thanksgiving to remind ourselves of grace. We need to call unto Him in times of trouble because we are powerless to handle our troubles. If God owns everything, then we are not ours, we belong to Him. If God owns everything then we cannot satisfy ourselves by giving our leftovers to God may it be our time, energy, money, service etc. If God owns everything and still he condescends to tell us “Call unto me in the day of trouble” then we don’t have to writhe in anxiety because he truly cares for us when we lift our hearts to him in prayers. If God owns everything then we don’t return any favor to God but must only be grateful to all the favors we received. If God owns everything, then it is only Him we are truly in need of.
Pastor