November 16, 2018
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory, because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth. (Psalm 115:1)
One of the things that determines the trajectory of a man's life is how he handles praise.
If he is a proud man, he will absorb it, vainly thinking that everything everyone says about him is true. Such arrogance will also lead him to muse that he is the source of all the good that has come from his life.
This man has forgotten that he was woven together in his mother's womb by God (Psalm 139). That every gift he has is from above, from the Father of Lights (James 1). He has also failed to remember that each breath he takes is a gift and that he lives and moves and has his being because of the sustaining hand of God.
Somewhere along the way, he has failed to shift his infantile perspective. It's understandable in our early years. But a mature man, and particularly, a godly man, has been broken from this pride. His life is marked by a visible, humble gratitude for anything that has happened to his life and through his life.
The Psalmist was such a man. And he offers this prayer in Psalm 115, that God alone would receive the glory for everything. Why? From God alone is every loving, kind, and truthful thing that has happened.
This was his prayer. And it must be ours.
Dear Father, forgive me for my incessant pride. For the love to be seen, the immature desire to be known. Turn my heart towards heaven. Help me to see, this day and beyond, that everything I have and do and enjoy comes from You. Help me to deflect praise to the One alone to whom it is due.
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