Morning & Evening Daily Devotional Reading– August 16

by Charles H. Spurgeon, Revised and Edited by William C. Neff

“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.”

—Psalm 29:2

God’s glory is the result of His nature and His activity. He is glorious in His nature because He is holy; everything within Him is good and lovely. The actions that flow from His character are also glorious, and they put His goodness, mercy, and justice on display. But the glory associated with His actions must be reserved for God Himself.

Certainly, there is nothing within ourselves in which we may glory. What do we have that we have not received from His gracious hand? How careful we ought to be to walk humbly before the Lord! There is only room for one glory in the universe, and the moment we glorify ourselves we set ourselves up as rivals to the Most High. Should the dust of the desert strive against the whirlwind or the drops of the ocean struggle with the storm?

Give unto the Lord the glory, strength, and honor due unto His name. This is a simple command, but learning to do it is one of the hardest struggles of the Christian life. “Not unto us, not unto us, [O Lord], but unto Your name be the glory.” It’s a lesson that God is always teaching us– and teaching us sometimes through the most painful discipline. Let a Christian begin to boast, “I can do all things,” (without adding “through Christ who strengthens me”) and before long he will have to groan, “I can do nothing,” as he grovels in the dust. When we do anything for the Lord, let us understand and declare openly that, “It wasn’t me (in and of myself), but it was the grace of God working within me!” [M&E]