“Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us—but unto Your Name give glory, for Your Mercy and for Your Truth’s sake.”
Psalm 115:1
True worship realizes there’s no comparison or competition—or, at least shouldn’t be—when it comes to Him.
Idolatry.
It’s always been with us. And, if the truth be known, it’s always been a part of us—at least since Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden fruit in the Garden that day.
Although the Lord God had told them the fruit from the “tree of knowledge of good and evil” produced death (Gen. 2:9, 16-17), Adam and Eve ate it anyway (Gen. 3:1-6). And, sadly, even though we should learn from their sin and its “wages” (3:7-24), we haven’t.
Even today, we yearn for the forbidden fruit, “which is good for food” (“The Lust of the Flesh”—I Jn. 2:16a). . .“pleasant to the eyes” (“The Lust of the Eyes”—I Jn. 2:16b). . .and “a tree desired to make one wise” (“The Pride of Life”—I Jn. 2:16c). And, it is this last one that intoxicates us the most—for the devil’s lie of “and you shall be as gods, knowing good and evil” (Gen. 3:5) is definitely alive-and-well on Planet Earth.
That’s why our world doesn’t hear and heed today’s Manna. That’s why they continue heaping to themselves various kinds of idols that take the place of the one, true-and-living God, causing them to become just like them (Ps. 115:4-8). Again, we call them by various names—Hedonism, Humanism, Secularism, Materialism, Pluralism, etc.—but they’re idols just the same.
And, then we wonder why the world’s in the shape she’s in.
It’s a “battle of the gods.”
It’s the ‘ole “My god’s better than your god.” And, like Pharaoh, who said to Moses that day, “Who is the Lord—i.e., your god—that I should obey his voice to let Israel go?” (Ex. 5:2a), our world always says “I know not the Lord; neither will I let go of the things I’m holding onto” (Ex. 5:2b).
Oh, dear Pilgrim, what’s there in your life that’s taking the place of or precedence over the Lord God? In what areas are you compromising your convictions or relegating the Lord Jesus to a lower place in your life than His rightful place of #1 (Mt. 6:33)? It’s easy to deny this or rationalize it away; but, the fact remains He will not rest (and neither will we) until we say “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Your Name belongs the Glory.”
As you meditate upon this, be sure to read vv.17-18 of Ps. 115. Pay close attention to those who “praise not the Lord.” This doesn’t just mean those who’ve “given up the ghost” and “gone the way of all flesh;” it also means those who are dead spiritually. Just as you can tell if a person’s alive or not by holding up a mirror to his/her mouth, so can you tell whether or not a person’s alive spiritually by what springs forth from his/her lips. Give God the Glory today by the way you talk and walk; that way there’ll be no question about which god/God you serve.
By Tom Smith Morning Manna Dated April 30, 2010
