Psalm 115
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(Acknowledgement)
(Acknowledgement)
Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Your name give glory Because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.
Psalm
The Psalmist here begins with a proper attitude of worship. This attitude of worship acknowledge the greatness and majesty of God as opposed to us.
So many times, we come to God in prayer to advance our causes.
So many times our prayers don’t sound like verse 1 (Read it).
There’s a reason he repeats “not to us.”
We have the tendency to be about us.
To advance our cause.
To seek our fame.
To glorify our name.
To do what we want as opposed to what God wants.
God will not accept that. He will not play with that.
In , The prophet Isaiah prophecy over the idolatrous people that Israel had become.
“I am the Lord, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another, Nor My praise to graven images.
This Psalm begins with the acknowledgment of two important truths.
The glory is not ours.
Lord give to us give to us
All glory is God’s.
God is for God.
There is no glory to be shared.
Every ounce of glory and every ounce praise lifted up in the earth should be his.
When that does not happen, it is idolatry.
Idolatry is not limited to the building of idols. Idolatry is any misdirected glory or praise.
It is God’s own name with which he is most concerned.
This stand to reason then. If God is most concerned with His glory, What should we be most concerned with? The glory of His name.
That involves a recognition that the glory is not ours and th
Thats reasonable. Right? God is for God.
So Our prayers are best when we appeal to His character for His glory.
Thats why he says:
For the sake of his lovingkindness.
For the sake of His truth.
So when we pray, we are asking God to work according to His character and for the glory of His name.
One of the goals in prayer is to aligning our will with God’s will. To align our purposes with His. to appeal to His character and desires as opposed to our character and our desires.
Hear Now His appeal.
Why should the nations say, “Where, now, is their God?”
The nations around Israel would have been tempted to mock Israel.
The assumption here is that they are experiencing some difficulty and the prayer is for their deliverance.
That has been the case in every instance of this type of prayer.
The Psalmist makes a familiar plea. This has been done before in similar situations.
Exodus 32:11
Then Moses entreated the Lord his God, and said, “O Lord, why does Your anger burn against Your people whom You have brought out from the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? “Why should the Egyptians speak, saying, ‘With evil intent He brought them out to kill them in the mountains and to destroy them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your burning anger and change Your mind about doing harm to Your people. “Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants to whom You swore by Yourself, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of the heavens, and all this land of which I have spoken I will give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ ”
-following
In all these cases, the appeal is for the name of God.
God please save on the basis of your great name.
God will deliver Israel, for the glory of His name.
“Therefore say to the house of Israel, ‘Thus says the Lord God, “It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you went. “I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst. Then the nations will know that I am the Lord,” declares the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.
Ezekiel 36:22-
God can guarantee that because of verse 3
But our God is in the heavens; He does whatever He pleases.
Two things we see in verse 3:
Our God is supremely above.
In the heavens is a reference to his rule and reign above all.
he is not a mere earthly king, though he does rule in the earth.
His kingdom and his thrones are untouchable by humans and the calamities of this world.
We think Nuclear bombs are powerful.
They are. To us.
But even our most deadly instruments of war are no match for the Creator of the World.
Our God is supremely sovereign.
He does WHATEVER He pleases.
God accomplishes His will.
Verse 3 reminds us of two things.
He reigns.
He rules.
The Inferiority of Idols.
Psalm 115:
Their idols are silver and gold, The work of man’s hands. They have mouths, but they cannot speak; They have eyes, but they cannot see; They have ears, but they cannot hear; They have noses, but they cannot smell; They have hands, but they cannot feel; They have feet, but they cannot walk; They cannot make a sound with their throat.
There’s really not much to say here to add anything to it.
Idols have no ability to do anything.
For themselves.
Or for us.
There is no power in them.
Verse 8 may be the scariest verse here.
We become like what we worship.
Idols are worthless, non productive, non Gloryifying, things DURING HARD TIMES, HOPELESS and will one day be destroyed for ever.
Idol worshipers become worthless, non productive, no glorifying things and will one day be destroyed forever.
On the other hand.
Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.
For those whom He foreknew, He also predestined to become conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brethren;
We become like what we worship.
Trust in the Lord.
There are blessing there.
