So it is with the word REQUIRE when it comes to the things said in God’s Word. Some of them are demands and some of them are more like requests.
The demands are connected to the Laws of God in the sense of things required as due or just. If the people want to live in a godly way, they must do these things. For instance, the first mention of something God requires is the death penalty for murder because human life is valued by Him!
Genesis 9:5–6. “And for your lifeblood I will require a reckoning: from every beast I will require it and from man. From his fellow man I will require a reckoning for the life of man. Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image.”
He also demands obedience to the words He gives His prophets as said in Deuteronomy 18:18–19: “I will raise up for them a prophet like you from among their brothers. And I will put my words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. And whoever will not listen to my words that he shall speak in my name, I myself will require it of him.”
Another command using this word is to anyone who promises or vows something to God:
Deuteronomy 23:21. “If you make a vow to the Lord your God, you shall not delay fulfilling it, for the Lord your God will surely require it of you, and you will be guilty of sin.
The OT also refers to disobedience, even the thought of disobedience — such as thinking God does not do anything about it. As Psalm 10:13 says, “Why does the wicked renounce God and say in his heart, ‘You will not call to account’? The sin may not yet show up as action, but thinking this can be the root of it. God requires otherwise.
God demanded obedience from His people in the OT, obedience to serving Him and to offering the best of what they had (see Ezekiel 20:40). He also required leaders to serve without selfish motives such as personal gain (Ezekiel 34:10–11). To all, He gives this command in Micah 6:8: “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”
However, there are many passages that use another word also translated REQUIRE, a word more like asking or making a request. These verses show the heart of God and obedience to them brings His blessing. Like the child who quickly empties the dishwasher, our Father is also blessed when we do as He asks.
One OT verse with this different Hebrew word is Deuteronomy 10:12. “And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul.” This is not a demand; no one can demand that another person loves them.
1 Kings 2:3 also requests, “Keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies (requirements), as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn.” God requires obedience, both requests and demands.
GAZE INTO HIS GLORY. I may be over-generalizing, yet it seems to me that what God demands shows His people what is godly, necessary and proper and that we need His grace and power to do it. Doing what He requests is more about responding to Him by choice because of a loving relationship of trust and a desire to please. In Paul’s letter to Philemon, verses 8–9 may illustrated the difference. He says to Philemon, “Accordingly, though I am bold enough in Christ to command you to do what is required, yet for love’s sake I prefer to appeal to you . . . .” Paul could have demanded but instead He asked his reader to choose out of a loving response.
For me, this means a request from God can indicate He could find someone else to empty the dishwasher, but if it is important that I do it, then it will come to me as a personal demand. Either way, my choice ought to be obedience.
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