I Chronicles 4:10 is a prayer made in boldness. A man who walked close with God, asked in boldness for some very big things. And God answered his prayer. But what does that verse teach us? A couple things it teaches me is one, to come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews4:16) in faith, believing what I ask for will be granted (Mark 11:24). And a second thing it teaches me is that when God does answer my prayers it is partly because he loves me and desires to see my joy, but mainly it is so that he can be glorified.
Speaking of God's glory, let me leave you with a hymn written by Fanny Crosby:
To God be the glory, great things He hath done,
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in.
Oh, perfect redemption, the purchase of blood,
To every believer the promise of God;
The vilest offender who truely believes,
That moment from Jesus a pardon receives.
Great things He hath taught us, great things He hath done,
And great our rejoicing through Jesus the Son;
But purer, and higher, and greater will be
Our wonder, our transport, when Jesus we see.
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, let the people rejoice!
Oh, come to the Father, through Jesus the Son,
And give Him the glory, great things He hath done.
7 comments:
This one re 'glory' sent me to the bible dictionary. I was anticipating things relating to light, brightness. (the cliche) but glory has roots in 'heaviness', weight! It relates to 'worthiness' and 'reputation'. I liked this sentence. "...denotes the revelation of God's being, nature and presence to mankind, sometimes with physical phenomena."
To seek God's glory is to display his weight! Wow! -- To uphold his reputation in words/actions. Is that a challenge?
I never thought of looking up the word "glory." Thanks.
It could be a challenge, but I wonder if it is more a responsibility...that happens to be quite challenging.
Responsibility yes, but what an adventure too, I think, to seek opportunity to extol God's reputation. Giving "glory" surely relates to being grateful. Gratitude is our proper posture.
I've been trying to understand and KNOW what grace is and means, especially in my life.
If gratitude is our proper posture, how can we honestly have a that posture towards God without understanding His grace in our lives?
And if we don't understand His grace in our lives, wouldn't it be hypocritical to try to come before God with a posture of gratitude?
Hummm, I am not sure that I follow you. God's grace (his unmerited favor) is what we, above all things, should be grateful for. Of course we are all limited in understanding, "we see through a glass darkly", but can't we/shouldn't we express thanks to God in our deeds and actions for his gift/s whether they are 'understood' or not?
You make a good point. I guess my problem is that sometimes, I don't fully understand what I was rescued from, thus limiting my full appreciation of God's grace in my life. But I my not ever know the full extent of it. In the meantime, I guess I just have to love and serve him with the gifts he has given me, being thankful for the life I do have through Jesus Christ.
'...sometimes, I don't fully understand what I was rescued from,...' One of my favorite quotes from Pogo: "I have met the enemy and it is us." We are all bearers of the rot at work in our world. Most of us are full of denial and point the finger away from ourselves. I am not saying you are doing that. It's just that if we see something ugly 'out there', chances are there are the seeds of that very thing in our our own hearts desperately needing rescue. We are all inclined toward a 'kingdom' other than God's. At the core of the Christian message is that if each human heart is rescued the world 'out there' is fixed.
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