For Your Glory Save Us

Text: Psalm 79
Theme: Asaph appealed to God’s glory and honor to help them.
Key verses: “Help us, O God of our salvation! Help us for the glory of your name. Save us and forgive our sins for the honor of your name. Why should pagan nations be allowed to scoff, asking, ‘Where is their God?’…” (v. 9-10). “o Lord, pay back our neighbors seven times for the scorn they have hurled at you. Then we your people, the sheep of your pasture, will thank you forever and ever, praising your greatness from generation to generation” (v. 12-13).
What God said to me: Dwayne, Asaph is reminding me here that my glory seems at stake, that my honor is being threatened. He says people are really scoffing me when they hurl insults at them. Their neighbors are scorning me. They’re questioning my ability and compassion to save my own followers. Further, Asaph says if I pay them back for their scorn, then my people will praise and thank me for generations to come. So, why would this motivate me to action? Why would Asaph use this particular strategy to get me moving? Son, this may be difficult for you to comprehend. Chapters like this can make me appear ego-centric and even insecure, somehow needing the praises of my people to make me feel better–or so secular minds have thought. But my ultimate glory is not at stake. I don’t need the approval of any man to bring glory to myself. And I bring glory to myself because I am the only one worthy of glory. All of creation exists because of me. Nothing moves or has its being except through me. All life starts with and returns to me. Asaph wasn’t appealing to my glory because I’m insecure and fearful of losing respect from a few non-believers on earth. He was acknowledging the absurdity that someone would question my honor and worth. You see, I don’t require glory from my creation because I need it. I require it because they have but one God who’s deserving of their worship. Try to think beyond your own egotistic existence. Try to understand that I am–not I wish I could be.
What I said to God: Lord, I am trying to comprehend this massive and heavy truth about Your glory. I know You’re not “stuck on yourself.” I know You don’t really need my praise to validate Your glory. I know Your glory shines brighter than the noon-day, whether man acknowledges it or not. Yet, You desire, deserve and delight in our praise. Help me grow in my understanding and knowledge of You. Great I Am, please help me and my family always seek to give You the glory that is already Yours.