Psalm 29: Glory

Have you ever gotten a gift that you didn’t want or worse yet, not been given something that you truly deserved? The first scenario is disappointing, the second angering, but both reveal a broken place in relationship, a miscommunication at best, a self-centeredness at worst. In this Psalm, David begins with a command. He doesn’t ask anything of God, he doesn’t talk about his enemies or his circumstances at all in this Psalm, in fact he doesn’t really talk to God, rather he talks about Him. He begins by telling the “mighty ones” to “give” or “ascribe” to God the gory that He deserves. Before we can talk about glory, we must at least try to understand who these “mighty ones” are that David is giving orders to.

Most of us have assumed that the “mighty ones” are the angels and while I do believe they are probably included in this description; they are not alone in it. There is something much more important happening than David telling the angels to worship the LORD. The Moody Bible Commentary points out that the Hebrew word used here is only used three other times in the Old Testament and that two of those times it clearly refers to pagan gods. Why would David tell pagan gods, gods that the Scriptures clearly state do not exist but are simply the fabrication of Satan and the foolishness of man, to give God glory? At City of Refuge we like to say that whenever Jesus is glorified men are redeemed, but just as true is the fact that whenever God receives glory those things that compete for His glory, in the hearts of men, are exposed as powerless. As such, David is not telling Baal or any other pagan god to actually give God glory as if those beings exist, he’s exposing the foolishness and error of giving glory to anyone or anything other than the one true living God.

Ultimately that means the command is given to us. It’s a command to see to it that our lives are flowing from and pointing to the only One who deserves any glory. Are we giving God the gift that He desires? To answer that we must ask ourselves if we are giving any of the glory that belongs to God to anyone or anything else in our lives? We have to begin to define and understand the word glory. The Hebrew word is “kabowd”. It’s the word we most often translate as glory, but it’s a word that is filled with the idea of honor. Glory is what God displays; honor is what He deserves. Within the Body of Christ, we work hard to make sure that we never make anything about works or effort. We know that we are saved by grace and not of works, but we forget that the only reason we are saved without work is that God has done the work for us. Honor is not like grace, it’s not freely given, honor is our response to the effort that someone else has given and the work that they have done. Romans 13:7 tells us to give honor to whom honor is due. The context is about giving what is owed, it’s not about extending honor to all, but rather giving honor to those who have earned honor through their lives, their effort and their work.

The question that David raises in Psalm 29 is, are we giving God the glory and honor He deserves? To answer that question, we must ask ourselves many other questions. Is Jesus enough for us? Is our satisfaction found in Him or in what we want or expect from Him? Does He hold our hearts, or do we allow our hearts to hold Him accountable to our plans and desires? Maybe the best question we can ask is this, what do we truly believe God deserves from us? We mostly answer this question hypothetically, “He deserves everything”, that’s true, but what does it mean, what does it look like and are we actually willing to give Him everything He deserves when many of us struggle to even given Him what He’s asked for?

Jesus said the greatest commandment was to love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He said that if we loved Him, we would obey Him. God told Israel, through the prophet Micah, that He had already told them what He required, to act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with our God. The only way to give God the glory He deserves is to obey the commands that He has made. God is glorified when His people obey Him, when His people love Him, when His people follow Him, when His people take on His character, when His people become like His Son. That’s it. That’s all. But that’s everything. Glory isn’t when we all shout the word in the temple, it’s when we all obey the Word in every area of our lives. So, I ask you today what I’m asking myself, are we giving God the glory that He deserves? Is He receiving from us the honor that He has earned? Are all the false gods and foolish idols of our culture and our creation receiving from our hearts and our lives what should only belong to God? Wherever a command is given a choice must be made, will we obey, or will we rebel? Jesus deserves the glory, will we give Him what He deserves?