Spurgeon: August AM
* 08/16/AM
"Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name."
--Psalm 29:2
God's glory is the result of His nature and acts. He is
glorious in His character, for there is such a store of
everything that is holy, and good, and lovely in God, that He
must be glorious. The actions which flow from His character are
also glorious; but while He intends that they should manifest to
His creatures His goodness, and mercy, and justice, He is
equally concerned that the glory associated with them should be
given only to Himself. Nor is there aught in ourselves in which
we may glory; for who maketh us to differ from another? And what
have we that we did not receive from the God of all grace? Then
how careful ought we to be to walk humbly before the Lord !
The moment we glorify ourselves, since there is room for one
glory only in the universe, we set ourselves up as rivals to the
Most High. Shall the insect of an hour glorify itself against
the sun which warmed it into life? Shall the potsherd exalt
itself above the man who fashioned it upon the wheel? Shall the
dust of the desert strive with the whirlwind? Or the drops of
the ocean struggle with the tempest? Give unto the Lord, all ye
righteous, give unto the Lord glory and strength; give unto Him
the honour that is due unto His name. Yet it is, perhaps, one of
the hardest struggles of the Christian life to learn this
sentence--"Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be
glory." It is a lesson which God is ever teaching us, and
teaching us sometimes by most painful discipline. Let a
Christian begin to boast, "I can do all things," without adding
"through Christ which strengtheneth me," and before long he will
have to groan, "I can do nothing," and bemoan himself in the
dust. When we do anything for the Lord, and He is pleased to
accept of our doings, let us lay our crown at His feet, and
exclaim, "Not I, but the grace of God which was with me!"