“In God is my salvation and my glory”(NKJV)

So what are you good at?  What do you do well?  For the great majority, each of us has something we’re pretty good at, or really good at.  And in most cases we actually like doing what we’re good at, whether it’s cooking, research, carpentry work, chess, mechanics, or something.  And typically what we’re good at is the thing we like doing.  It brings us satisfaction, a sense of fulfillment, even delight.  In that sense we glory in it.  It becomes what we’re known for, our renown, even our glory.

Included in young David’s early reputation was his ability to play music (1 Samuel16:18).  King Saul called him to play because God had already rejected him as king (chapter 15).  Unknown to Saul, God had already chosen David as Israel’s next king (chapter 16).  You’d think that since Saul knew his days as king were numbered, that the last thing he’d want is someone nearby whom “the Lord is with” (16:18) to be playing music for you.  But people out of fellowship with Lord can never escape their sin, and the reminders of their foolishness that God sends their way.

David was an unusually talented man.  Even as Israel’s second and greatest king, God taught him what his true glory was.   We see this in Psalm 62, which begins; “My soul finds rest in God alone; my salvation comes from him.  He alone is my rock and my salvation… (vs. 1-2).  David faced difficulties both before and while he was king.  Although loyal men traveled with him, fought beside him, and accompanied him throughout his life, he experienced incidents of treachery and rebellion, even in his own family.  It was at a time like this that he said in verse 7, “In God is…my glory” (NKJV).

Notice the shift in center.  David’s reputation among the people no longer was based on what he could do or what he was good at, but through difficult times became God himself.  Paul said the same thing: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty.  I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation…” (Philippians 4:11-12).  Mature saints know that God frequently uses circumstances to whittle away at man’s self-centered reliance on himself, his skills, his talents, even though it is the Creator who gave them to him.  Why is that?

In 1 Corinthians 1 Paul sets out to demonstrate to a fractured church the lunacy of self-centered glory.  “Brothers, think of what you were when you were called.  Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth.   But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.  He chose the lowly things of this world and the despised things—and the things that are not—to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast [glory, NKJV] before him” (vs. 26-29).  Notice that the Corinthians were not even wise by human standards, let alone God’s!  How’s that for deflating your sails?  Few had inherent nobility from birth or influence.  Many he calls “foolish, weak, lowly and despised”.  Pumping them up, isn’t he?  How’s that for building self-esteem?  As a church, the Corinthians had not grown in maturity, even though they were perhaps the most gifted church (1:7) in the whole Roman Empire.  It could be said that the combination of their talents and self-centeredness actually stymied their growth toward maturity.

Jeremiah, the weeping prophet said the same thing.  Israel chased after the false gods of the Gentiles.  God would no longer tolerate their spiritual harlotry and idolatry.  Enough was enough.  Jeremiah had eyes to see what few others could see: “The dead bodies of men will like refuse on the open field, like cut grain behind the reaper, with no one to gather them” (9:22).  Why such a grim picture?  Because of the stubborn hardness of man’s heart in wanting to glory in himself and rob God of his glory.  So he continues: “This is what the Lord says: Let not the wise man boast [glory] of his wisdom or the strong man boast [glory] of his strength or the rich man boast [glory] of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this; that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord…” (vs. 23-24).

So what are you good at?  What is it that brings you satisfaction and delight — carpentry?  Cooking?  Mechanics?  Is that what your reputation is all about, or what people know you for?  Or is it like David, Paul and Jeremiah who understands and knows the Lord?  Really?