Very, very few people truly understand God. And thus for the almost six thousand years, that this universe has been in existence, the vast majority of His creatures have treated Him hardly in accordance with His Eminence. Not realizing or caring that He is the Source of their life, God has been abused, disparaged, mocked, ridiculed, derided, defied, disregarded, defamed, scorned-pick a verb-in short, treated with contempt! Or arguably, worse than the above, God has been totally ignored!
As a result, God has suffered throughout the Millenia-exponentially greater and far longer than any human being-despite billions of people of various religions, sects, and modalities who pray to Him-some on a daily basis-without truly understanding what they are doing-nor why they are doing so. As a result, it is fair to state God is basically alone-although forlorn and isolated are better descriptors.
This book, therefore, is written first and foremost for God; to assure Him there are, at least, some who understand His nature, and appreciate His efforts in our behalf; that is, the food we receive, the shelter He provides, the ability to live a fairly long life with its pleasures and blessings, and His greatest gift of all: Free-Will.
Do you know Who He is, what He wants, what He needs, what is important to Him, how much He suffers, and, especially, how we can help Him, and engage Him real-time? Are we here to do God's Will? Or is it possible God wishes to do our Will? Indeed, if you read this book, you may not believe your eyes and ears. You will discover we know more about God than we do about our own spouse, parents, children, and friends, because God hides nothing from us, but reveals everything about Himself throughout Scripture!
For thus says the Lord-Who created the Heavens; "I am the Lord, and there is no other.
I did not speak in secret, in a land of darkness. I did not say 'Seek Me out in a wasteland',
But I, the Lord, announced beforehand what was to come." (Isaiah 45:18.)
The major purpose, then, of this book is to inform readers of God's basic nature, His inner life, His thoughts and feelings, His desires, and how He relates to the creatures He created, to the end that those who wish a relationship with Him can have one.
"God has a stake in our behavior. Thus, He cries when we fail and rejoices when we succeed. He weeps when we ignore widows, exploit orphans, and abuse strangers. When we violate the norms He has taken pains to communicate to us, He angrily sends prophets to chastise and warn us. What all this means is that God is filled with feeling; with pathos. That is the essence of Biblical religion and of the Judaism that arose from it."
Abraham Joshua Heschel
In conformity with the above, again and again, dozens-nay hundreds-of times in every book of the Old Testament, we are struck by God's total involvement in His Creation; in the human condition, and the effect His creatures-have upon Him!
Scripture could not be more explicit! God is not remote from any human who wishes to know Him. Nor is it necessary to allow others to interpret God's Laws for us. We are all capable of doing so if we truly desire to, and thus have an individual relationship with God!
