The Story of What God Wants

Deuteronomy 10:12-22

Before bed one night, Beth said to her mother, "Mother, tell me a story that will make me happy while I fall asleep."
"Of course, Dear One," said her mother. "Here is a story about how much God loves his people and what his people should do to keep his love."
And this is the story she told:

One day, Moses was talking to the Israelites and he said, "All God wants is for you to be afraid of him, to do what he tells you to do, to love him, to be his servant, and to obey his commandments and laws. Look, heaven and the heaven that is higher than heaven belong to God, and so does the Earth and everything in it. Only God loved your parents and your grandparents and your great-grandparents and earlier grandparents and they loved him, so he decided to look after their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren and other children, including you.
"That is why you should cut off the end of the penis of your heart and not be stubborn any more. God is the God of other gods. He's a tough, nasty God who doesn't think anything about individuals and never takes bribes."

"But I thought that God liked Moses best, and Moses was an individual," said Beth, interrupting. "That's why he kept offering to kill all the Israelites but let Moses live. And when God was going to kill bunches of people, Moses or Aaron would burn things for God and God would stop because he liked the burning things. Isn't that a bribe?"
"Now, now, Dear One," said Beth's mother. "Those things couldn't be favoritism or bribes because God said he never does those things. They must be something else."
"Oh," said Beth.

"God judges bastards and widows," continued Moses, "and loves strangers, giving them food and clothing."

Beth interrupted again: "Unless they're from Sihon or Bashan or Heshbon or --"
"Yes, Dear One," said her Mother.
" -- or they're Hittites or Amorites or Canaanites or Perizzites or Hivites or Jebusites --"
"Yes, I understand, Dear One," said her mother, cutting her off. "But those people weren't strangers, God already knew them and didn't like them. Now let me continue with the story."

"That is why you should love strangers, because you were strangers in Egypt. Be afraid of God. Serve him, stick with him, and use his name when you swear.

"I thought that we weren't supposed to swear with God's name?" Beth asked.
"As the Lord of all creation, God reserves the right to change his mind, Dear One," answered her mother.

God is your compliment, he is your God, he has done big, nasty things for you and you saw him do them. Your parents and your grandparents and your great-grandparents and earlier grandparents went to Egypt with 70 people, and now God has made as many of you as there are stars in the sky."

"Now, wasn't that beautiful?" asked Beth's mother.
"Oh, yes, Mother," said Beth. Then she pulled the covers up close to her chin and let her mother kiss her on the temple.
As Beth's mother was leaving the room, Beth opened her eyes and asked, "Mother, how many stars are there in the sky?"
"Well, there are tens of millions of galaxies in the universe," said her mother, "and each one has about 100 billion stars. Now go to sleep, Dear One."
All Beth's questions had been answered, and she fell asleep dreaming dreams of God and wondering where he kept all those billions of Israelites.