KingdomView, Vol. III, Issue 17
Psalms 115: 1-18
God’s "glory" is how we describe the sum effect of all of His attributes: grace, truth, goodness, mercy, justice, knowledge, power, eternity—all that He is. Therefore, the glory of God is intrinsic; that is, it is as essential to God as light is to the sun, as blue is to the sky, as wet is to water. You don’t make the sun light; it is light. You don’t make the sky blue; it is blue. You don’t make water wet; it is wet. In all of these cases, the attribute is intrinsic to the object.
In contrast, man’s glory is granted to him. If you take a king and take off his robe and crown and give him only a rag to wear and leave him on the streets for a few weeks, when put next to a beggar you’ll never know which is which, because there is no intrinsic glory. The only glory a king has is when you give him a crown and a robe and sit him on his throne. He has no intrinsic glory.
That is the point. The only glory that men have is granted to them. The glory that is God’s is in His essence. You cannot de-glory God because glory is His nature. You cannot touch His glory, take it away, or add to it. It is His being. In addition, God ascribes glory to His name. He says, "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images, Isaiah 42:8." Therefore, in our foundational text, the psalmist pens a communal psalm that exhorts Yahweh (God) to vindicate the glory of His name among the heathen nations who casted aspersions against it as they exalted their idol gods (Psalm 115:2-8). Conversely, as the people of God, because of His worthiness, we must ensure that we glorify His name. Today’s passage provides us with six reasons why we should glorify His name:
1. We should glorify His name because of His love and faithfulness, Psalm 115: 1, 2
2. We should glorify His name because of His transcendence and sovereignty, Psalm 115:3
3. We should glorify His name because of His personable and powerful indwelling presence, Psalm 115:4-8
4. We should glorify His name because of His ability to help and protect His people, Psalm 115:9-11
5. We should glorify His name because of His thoughtfulness and willingness to bless, Psalm 115:12-18, and finally,
6. We should glorify His name because of His delegation of dominion of the earth to men and His life giving nature, Psalm 115:16-18
In conclusion, God explicitly declares, "You must not worship no other gods, for the Lord, whose very name is "Jealous," is a God who is jealous about His relationship with you." (Exodus 34:14, New Living Translation) The Hebrew word for "Jealous" by which God calls Himself here is, "
El Qanna," which carries the idea of "God’s zeal arising when sin threatens to disrupt an intimate relationship between Him and His people." Therefore, we must be discerning and not allow ourselves to fall sway to glorifying twenty-first century idols that are disguised in vain humanist mindsets of greed, materialism, and un-tempered power. If not, El Qanna will intervene to remove that idol (Exodus 32). He wants nothing to interfere with His love relationship with His children; nor does He intend to share His glory that is due His name with idols. Let us always remember to give God the glory, and He in turn will give us the victory! He truly deserves all the glory and honor that is due His name.
