What God Wants
Be pleased to accept the voluntary offerings of my mouth, Lord, and teach me Your judgments. Psalm 119:107 NASB
Voluntary offerings – Abraham Heschel formulated Man’s critical question: “What does God demand of me?” It’s amazing that we have turned this question upside-down. In our modern religious world, the question becomes “What do I demand of God?” Well, perhaps “demand” isn’t exactly the right word as it sounds too brash or disrespectful, but even if we soften it to “What do I want from God?” the question is still wrong-headed. Because we have been taught that God is the benevolent Father and we are His needy people, we’ve assumed that the most important thing is what God offers us, not what we are expected to give to Him. Actually, this isn’t surprising. Evangelism has emphasized the “free gift” of salvation so long that it has consumed every other interchange between God and men. We’re convinced that all God really wants is for each of us to get to Heaven. Our “grace” theology treats God as the ultimate Giver. That’s quite different than the way God is revered in the Tanakh.
All of this shows up in the noun nĕdābâ.
The root ndb connotes an uncompelled and free movement of the will unto divine service or sacrifice. . . this noun represents sacrifice made “out of devotion, not out of precept or promise. . .” As such it celebrates a state of favor and blessedness arising from a proper relationship with God.[1]
Perhaps it’s worth reading that last sentence again. nĕdābâ is the expression of “a proper relationship with God.” It’s not about what I can get. It’s what I can give. It goes one step beyond Heschel’s question. God does demand something of me. That is the consistent theme of the Tanakh (and is probably why the Christian Church cares so little about Jewish thought). But there is one more, deeper, step: to voluntarily give, to go beyond the precept or the promise, to offer myself on the basis of devotion alone.
This action isn’t motivated by God’s demand. It isn’t prompted by a divine promise. It isn’t inspired by rules or gifts. It’s performed out of dedication, loyalty, allegiance—and nothing more. nĕdābâ is sacrifice without expectation. The poet offers what identifies him—his speaking—to God, and then requests that God teach Him proper governance. This reminds me of the parable of the talents. The “wicked” servant was punished not because he didn’t produce but because fear was his motivation. He didn’t understand the proper relationship to the master. He was more concerned about results than about fealty.
I often wonder whether I am more like the wicked servant than the loyal ones. I’m pretty sure God cares less about my results than about my faithfulness, but I find myself counting rather than offering.
Topical Index: nĕdābâ, voluntary sacrifice, reward, demand, fealty, Psalm 119:107
[1] Coppes, L. J. (1999). 1299 נָדַב. In R. L. Harris, G. L. Archer Jr., & B. K. Waltke (Eds.), Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament (electronic ed., p. 554). Moody Press.
