God's Need of Us

The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man,... (Acts 17:24)
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​So often I have heard it said the reason God created all things and, in particular, created humans, is because God wanted someone to love him.  He desired true love and so he created humans.  However, in Acts 17, while addressing the Greek amphitheater, Paul says, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything” (vv.24-25).  “As though he needed anything…”, Paul says.  God does not need anything from anyone.  God is self-sufficient, self-sustaining, all-powerful, and existed for all eternity in perfect harmonious unity within the fellowship of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  God was not lonely.  He was not missing something.  And he certainly did not need anything.  Bottom line: God does not need me or you.  God does not need any of us.  This is actually a good thing because if God were dependent on us, then we could manipulate God into doing what we want him to do.  But God is not dependent on us, rather we are dependent on him, as Paul says, “since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.”  We need God.  He does not need us.  Then why did God create humans?  Read on.  Paul goes on to say, “And he made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him” (vv.26-27).  God desires for us to know him, to worship him, to glorify him.