Warning: Undefined array key "margin_above" in /home/customer/www/ciccohio.org/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-social-media-icons/libs/controllers/sfsiocns_OnPosts.php on line 619
Warning: Undefined array key "margin_below" in /home/customer/www/ciccohio.org/public_html/wp-content/plugins/ultimate-social-media-icons/libs/controllers/sfsiocns_OnPosts.php on line 620
Psalm 3:3 – “But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”
David is known to call God very intimate names. In Psalm 27, God is his Light and Salvation. In Psalm 118:14, “The Lord is my strength and song, And He has become my salvation.” Of course, Psalm 23 is full of the Covenant identities/names of God. In Psalm 3, God is his shield, defender, and his glory! In doing so, David personalizes the awesome essence of God as the King of Glory [Psalm 24]. That’s audacious. Was David taken on God’s glory? But we know God does not share His glory with anyone [Isaiah 48: 11].
In the world, when we glory in say, an achievement, we take pride in that thing. So really what David is doing here is taking pride and confidence in God! He’s saying, “God, You’re not just my Defender, my Shield, you are my JOY & PRIDE!” This is truly a reflection of his intimacy with God. Not only is God living in us through His indwelling Spirit, He also wants to show us off as David showed Him off!
How can God’s glory be seen in us?
Because God’s glory embodies everything about His essence, His majesty, His power, when we use all He’s given us to thank Him and show our gratitude, we are manifesting His glory. We are the light to the world [Mathew 5:14]. We worship Him in spirit and truth, obey His Word, and partner with Him in everything we are and everything we do.
“So, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” – 1 Corinthians 10:13
Living in God’s glory [radiance/ beauty/goodness] means that with Christ living in us, we are daily, gradually, and continually being transformed into His image. As we are transformed, our lives cannot but give glory to God. He can see Himself in us.
God seeks to be glorified not for vain glory [like man does], but because that shows we have become one with Him – restored to our original glorious state. He desires His glory in us out of His love for us.
Living in His glory means no matter what life throws at us, we know and recognize that God is at work making us into His Masterpiece. We then allow His purpose to be fulfilled through our experiences.
Joni Earekson Tada tells the story of a young man who came to pray healing into her. He had it figured out that sin was her problem. He referenced the story of the paralyzed man. She was very patient with him, attesting that neither faith or sin was the issue. He wouldn’t stop, so she then asked him to go to the story again and pointed out that Jesus had considered the faith of the friends. She then waited for his faith to act. What an embodiment of God’s glory that woman is. In her condition, her achievements for God’s glory cannot be matched.
Here’s a quote from her: “Do I pray for healing for my chronic pain. You bet I do! Am I expecting it? If God wills, yes. ‘Whatever You want, Lord’, I pray. If it would give You more glory and advance Your gospel more quickly, I’m all for it! Always and always, I want to be in submission to the Father and obedient to the Word of Jesus –knowing full well that if I had everything else in life and lacked that, I would have nothing at all. Because isn’t that the bottom line? That Jesus gets the glory, whether I jump out of my wheelchair pain free and tell people that my healing is genuine evidence of God’s awesome power . . . or whether I continue to smile in my chair, not in spite of my pain but because of it, knowing I’ve got lessons to learn, a character to be honed, other wounded people to identify with in a hurting world to reach with the gospel, and a suffering Savior with whom I can enjoy intimacy. And every bit of it evidence of God’s love and grace.”
Joni Earekson Tada: A Place of Healing: Wrestling with the Mysteries of Suffering, Pain, and God’s Sovereignty – September 1, 2010
The end of us is God’s glory because that’s what we were made for. Also read Isaiah 4:2-6.
November 13, 2022 – Pastor Rosaire Ifedi
