For Whose Glory?

Psalm 75 provides us with two alternatives: praising God or praising ourselves. From the beginning of time humanity was created to make God’s name known, but with the conflict of the fall, people began making a name for themselves instead of glorifying God. Satan uses the desire to make our names known in his temptation of Eve when he placed before her the prize of being like God. In Genesis 4, Lamech sings praise about himself instead of God. In Genesis 11 the people of Babel build their city and tower in order to make a name for themselves. And we could point to Pharaoh, Saul, Solomon, Hezekiah, Nebuchadnezzar, and the Jews of the first century who murdered Christ and opposed the church as further examples in Scripture of the human desire to make our own name known, to become gods ourselves. Church history doesn’t provide a much better picture with the Catholic hierarchal power grabs and the proliferation of man-centered mega-churches promoting their books and programs as the secret to “success.” Adding to this problem is that we look with envy at these people and agree that they are successful. We contribute to their self-glorification by lifting them and their success up as models of ministry or desiring their success for ourselves.

But notice how the Psalm 75 begins and ends. v1 says “We give thanks to You, O God, we give thanks, for Your name is near; Men declare Your wondrous works.” v9-10 say, “But as for me, I will declare it, that is God’s justice and judgment, forever; I will sing praises to the God of Jacob. All the horns of the wicked He will cut off, but the horns of the righteous will be lifted up.” Let me just speak to horns here for a minute as they are mentioned throughout this psalm. Horns were a symbol of power and glory. Animals with horns or antlers use their horns to dominate rivals or to defeat predators and foes. They are also the animals glory; think of how hunters value animals with large or impressive horns. So with this metaphor in mind, in v4-5 we see God reminding us not to boast, not to lift up our horn, and not to speak with pride. And in v7 the psalmist reminds us that God puts down one and exalts another.

“But God is the Judge; He puts down one and exalts another.”

Psalm 75:7, NASB95

So you want to be glorified? Be reminded that we don’t glorify ourselves; God glorifies us as it says, “He puts down one and exalts another.” And He doesn’t it do it by making us successful in the world’s eyes with big crowds and big incomes, but with big righteousness that only comes from Him. Hear the encouragement of 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12: “To this end also we pray for you always, that our God will count you worthy of your calling, and fulfill every desire for goodness and the work of faith with power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus will be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” You see our glorification can never comes from ourselves, it comes from our glorification of Christ our God. Submit to Him; look like Him, and you will glorify Him, and in return He will glorify you. And isn’t that better than facing Him as Judge and having your horn cut off?

Photo by Hulki Okan Tabak on Unsplash