No, God does not need man! This thinking has arisen through many well-intentioned preachers who wanted to bring us closer to the Creator. Urging us to be good brings us closer to the Creator as a consequence, but this is only for our own benefit. Proximity to the Creator grants us eternal life and everlasting happiness which is only consequential to us human beings and has no direct bearing on the Creator Himself.

Striving to be good human beings and obeying the Laws of God makes us better custodians of the power in Creation, allowing us to unfold the great talents buried deep within each and every one of us. Through this, we become a great blessing to our environment and to our neighbours. So, in so far as the special talents of man are concerned he is needed for the continued uplifting of the material environment in which he finds himself. But as far as to whether God needs him for His own amusement and company, the answer must be no.

Man is needed for the continued spiritual ennoblement of the material creations but in that we have failed so far. Our special spiritual nature was to be used to spiritualise our material environment but that is not the case at the moment, and if anything at all we have brought the material creation further down the dark path.

It is important to realise that in the scheme of things the man of this earth is not the only creature in Creation. There are many other creatures of greater value and significance who have their origin in the proximity of the Creator and who do not have to descend to this earth for their development. Once we come to this realisation, the arrogance which presumes that God can need man for company and discourse would disappear of its own accord. 

Once this realisation penetrates to our understanding we would then give thanks to the Almighty for giving us this material realm and the opportunity to unfold our talents and use it for its continued development.