What God wants of me

Will the LORD be pleased with thousands of rams,
with ten thousand rivers of oil?
Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression,
the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?

He has showed you, O man, what is good.
And what does the LORD require of you?
To act justly and to love mercy
and to walk humbly with your God.

If you read the Kings You will see a pattern as you read the deeds from one king to the next. Israel forgets about God under one king then when the next king comes and the Book of the Law is found. They had forgotten the law that was given to them by Moses, the "Ten Commandments." They were not evil, no they abide by the laws of those derived from the law given to them not by Moses but by the kings. They had the rituals down pat, the symbols themselves but instead of a guide became a stumbling block. The law is useless unless one observes the first two. God identifies himself as the only god or at least the supreme god. However he never commands them to worship Him. He does however in the second warns them not to bow down before a graven image. But put also commands them not to make images of Him. God said, "Do not try to define me or put me in a box.". The next eight are ways to live in peace with our neighbors. Without the the first two the rest become an empty ritual .

Since God is love all the laws are based on love. Jesus said that all the laws are based on love. First God gives us that which is and commands us to spread it around. Following the laws chapter and verse becomes a the way of life. It is that love that is missing from the ritual. The Hebrew people had the rituals down right, they gave sacrifices and used the right incense . They did not kill nor steal. Not at least where it can be seen. Some sacrificed their kids trying please God. They danced around a sent platitudes of praise to God asking God for mercy, believing that God would visit them if praised in the correct manner. Society found easy to over looking the the first and second, create a ritual. The logical conclusion then that devout observer of the law those one might call fanatical. Making sure others kept the laws made by man under pain of death.

God did not want the sacrifices that they made in their lives just to please a God of Love, that loves us already. He just wants us to be humble. Be human be who you are what God created us to do. We can love God with all the love given to them. They had the letter of the law but had missed more important things like mercy, justice and understanding. The the law not to kill was changed to murder to justify the fact sometimes they sanction killing. We see it today it is OK to kill, in war, state executions , abortion doctors, other religions. The law without love is hollow but with love we do not kill because it is God's domain. Love therefore constrains us to obey the law not out of fear but out of a decision to do the right thing for the right reason, do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly before God.