Why did God create us? It says because he wanted people to appreciate his
creations, but why? Does God get lonely? Didn’t he, in fact, create us
above all to worship HIM? If that is our supreme purpose, what is the
point of creating people merely for the satisfaction of receiving their
praise?

You ask a very good question. Of course, you are asking me to speak for
God here, which is something I certainly cannot do! All I can really do is
speculate on God’s motives. In this case, wisdom would dictate that I
admit this is mere speculation and would suggest we leave final judgments
until we can ask God himself in heaven! To quote Paul, “God, the blessed
and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal
and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To
him be honor and might forever, Amen.” As Moses said, “The secret things
belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed to us and to our
children forever,”. God has not revealed to us exactly why he created us.

Nevertheless, let me supply you with my speculation, for what it is worth.
My speculation is based on the fact that God said we were made in his
image (Genesis 1:26). Part of the nature we inherited from God is the
desire to love and to be loved. It would appear from the message of the
cross that God created us, at least in part, because he wanted to love and
to be loved. Does this mean that God is weak? Does God get lonely? Does
God NEED to be loved? I would suggest that it is more appropriate to say
that God DESIRES to love and to be loved. This, in part, is why God
created human beings.

Another part of God’s nature which we humans inherited is an innate desire
to create something. Humans are clearly not as powerful creators as God,
but it is part of our nature to want to do something; to have a legacy; to
leave the world behind at least somewhat changed for our having lived. Our
desire to create explains in part our desire to have children and our
desire to do something with our hands and minds. I would assume that this
is the nature of God as well. Therefore, at least in part, God created us
because it is in his nature to create.

To put it in another, less abstract way, God created us for the same
reason that human beings want children. It is part of who we are to want
to love, to be loved and to somehow leave behind a world effected by our
having lived. We do not want automatons as children. It is human nature to
want to create a life which of its own volition chooses to accept our love
and to give love in return. This “human” nature, I believe, is inherited
from God, in whose image we are created.

John Oakes, PhD