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!"Charles
Spurgeon
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