“MY GLORY I WILL GIVE TO NO OTHER!l

Isaiah 42:8                                                  (ESV)

“I am the LORD; that is MY name; “MY GLORY I GIVE TO NO OTHER”, nor MY praise to carved idols.”

Not long ago I was wanting to MAKE SURE that I was hearing from GOD, mainly that I wasn’t missing HIM speaking to me.  As much “trouble” as I have been through, I didn’t want to have to be taken to the proverbial woodshed again physically, Spiritually and mentally, just because I was TOO BUSY to hear from GOD!  C.S. Lewis is one of my favorite authors, and in the book THE PROBLEM OF PAIN he writes, “We can ignore even pleasure. But pain insists upon being attended to. GOD whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, BUT SHOUTS IN OUR PAINS: it is HIS megaphone to rouse a deaf world.”

When the children of Israel were practically “ran out” of Egypt, GOD had caused SO MUCH GRIEF to the Egyptians that the Israelites “plundered” (Exodus 12:35-36) the Egyptians as they left, with the blessings of the Egyptians!  Yet, in Exodus 14:4, scripture records “And I (GOD) will harden Pharaoh's heart, and he will pursue them, and I WILL GET GLORY over Pharaoh and all his host, and the Egyptians shall know that I AM THE LORD." And they did so.”  In Exodus 14:10, the Israelites were on the banks of the Red Sea observing the Egyptians closing in on them and “THEY FEARED GREATLY” thinking they were still under control of their enemy, even though GOD had earlier said that I WILL GET GLORY over Pharaoh and all his host!!!

But have we learned anything in the time since?  GOD’s WORD tells us that “MY GLORY I GIVE TO NO OTHER”, yet we seem to do everything we can to build earthly treasures, eventually that will rust and be destroyed in the end.  C.S. Lewis understood that ALMIGHTY GOD sometimes uses tragedies for HIS GLORY!  We are not created to be glorified, but to GLORIFY HIM.  Our wealth and prosperity will never satisfy us, nor will it buy our way into PEACE and contentment.  We can only experience PEACE and contentment by GLORIFYING GOD ALMIGHTY.  

Recognizing that “MY GLORY I WILL GIVE TO NO OTHER” does not include me being elevated to a lofty position while I am here on this earth.  GOD elevated us with JESUS (Ephesians 2:6) “and seated us with HIM in heavenly places” because of HIS great love for us, so why should we desire temporary gains?  Just like the children of Israel were promised by ALMIGHTY GOD to be delivered from the Egyptians, we have been promised an eternity with HIM!  JESUS prayed in John 17:23 “The glory that YOU have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as WE are ONE”.  “MY GLORY I WILL GIVE TO NO OTHER” can only be shared by we who are HIS.  Are you HIS???