Be Confident Because of God’s Passion for His Glory

Is God’s passion for His glory an encouragement to you?

Scripture tells us again and again that God is determined to magnify His fame; all peoples must recognize His holy character. Isaiah 48:9-11 is particularly explicit:

“For my name’s sake I defer my anger; for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”

The New Testament is just as clear. We are to do good works for the glory of the Father (Matthew 5:16). Lazarus was sick and a man was born blind for the glory of God (John 11:4, 9:3). We could list a hundred other examples.

Upon seeing this truth, many become uneasy. For we do not like people who magnify their own glory. Such people are uncaring and inconsiderate, self-absorbed and self-promoting. Do we really want to follow a God like that?

The prophet Samuel helps us to see that we need not have such uneasiness. Indeed, God’s passion for His glory is the basis for our hope!

Recall the setting of 1 Samuel 12. No Israelite has served as king in the years after God brought His people out of Egypt. Instead, God Himself has been their king. Yet the people have asked God to make them like other nations, providing a king for them. God acquiesces; following God’s instruction, Samuel anoints Saul king. The prophet lets the people know, however, that their request is a rejection of God, and thus is sinful.

The people therefore ask:

“Pray for your servants to the LORD your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.” (1 Samuel 12:19)

Samuel responds:

“Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the LORD will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the LORD to make you a people for himself.” (1 Samuel 12:20-22)

This expanded paraphrase attempts to highlight Samuel’s logic:

You indeed have sinned. You deserve God’s judgment; indeed you deserve His rejection. But remember how you became His people! He did not choose you because you were obedient or powerful; He made you His people because it pleased Him to do so. That has not changed! He promised that you are His – and He is faithful to His every promise, for He is passionate for His glory. He always acts consistently with His character, so that His glory might be displayed in all the earth. Therefore, acknowledge your sin – and then serve the LORD with all your heart! You belong to Him – so repent! Worship Him! Don’t turn away from Him, turning aside to other gods, or to anything else that you think might benefit you! None will! You belong to Him! In Him alone will you find joy and fulfillment and peace! So serve Him alone.

Friends, God’s reputation is all wrapped up with His forgiving and perfecting His people – that is, all who come to Him through Jesus. It is God’s good pleasure to act this way, and thus to display His mercy, grace, love, and justice to the entire created order. God’s passion for His glory is thus for our good, for our joy (unlike the passion of any human for his own glory).

So delight in the God-centeredness of God – particularly when you sin! He will never forsake His people, for His great name’s sake.

God’s Regret and Ours

On Sunday June 2, we considered the seemingly contradictory statements that God is not a man that He should have regret (1 Samuel 15:29) and that He regretted making Saul king (1 Samuel 15:11). In the sermon (available soon at this link) I highlighted three reasons that we humans regret our past actions:

  1. First, we make sinful decisions. Sometimes we make the decision knowing it is wrong; other times we do not realize the decision is sinful until later. In either case, we may come to regret the decision itself.
  2. Second: We make unwise decisions. Given the information we have at the time, we should have made a different decision.
  3. Third: We make decisions that, given the information available at the time, are right and wise, but then unexpected events occur that make us wish we had made different decisions. A trivial example: Driving home recently from an evening bike ride in Concord, I checked Google Maps, which told me the quickest way home was via I-85 and I-485. But on the way home I discovered that the Harrisburg exit on I-485 was closed for repaving, so going on that route took much more time than the alternative. I regretted making that decision – though given the information available, it was the right decision.

God is not a man, and thus He does not regret in any of those three ways. He never does wrong. He is all-wise. And He knows all things, even the end from the beginning, so nothing surprises Him (Isaiah 46:9-10 among many other verses).

But what about the case of Saul? This first king of Israel played a role in God’s great plan of redemption. Saul’s sin was no surprise to God, no new information. For it was always God’s plan for the Messiah’s kingly ancestors to be from the tribe of Judah, David’s tribe, not from the tribe of Benjamin, Saul’s tribe (Genesis 49:10). In the event, all events happened according to God’s plan. In that sense, God did not regret making Saul king.

So in what sense does God regret? What does the statement in 1 Samuel 15:11 mean?

God hates sin. He hates the sin itself, as well as the pain the sin inflicts on those around the sinner. So God hates Saul’s rebellion against Him. God hates Saul’s fearing the people instead of fearing Him. God hates the impact these sins had on the nation in that day. In that sense, He regrets making Saul king.

And yet, Saul is part of God’s perfect plan – as Judas and his betrayal of Jesus is part of God’s perfect plan. God uses even the sinful acts of sinful men to accomplish His righteous purposes (Acts 4:27-28, Revelation 17:17). God did not sin, He did not make an unwise decision, He was not surprised by what happened. He was always working out His perfect plan.

Consider the following analogy, which I think comes as close as possible in human experience to this type of regret:

Imagine that you and your spouse have a daughter, whom you raise in the faith. You are diligent, loving, grace-filled parents. When the time is right, you teach her about God’s good plan for sexuality and how it is for His glory and our joy to delay sexual relations until marriage.

And yet when she is in her late teens she comes to you, confessing her sin and telling you she is pregnant.

You love her. You weep with her. You pray with her. You meet with the young man. After prayer and further counsel from others, they decide to marry. Your daughter gives birth to a baby girl.

Though there are struggles in the marriage, in the end by God’s grace it is solid and strong. They are good parents. Your granddaughter is a delightful young girl who brings great joy to her parents and to you.

Do you regret the pre-marital sex?

Yes. Your regret of the pre-marital sex is similar to God’s regret for Saul’s kingship. The act was sinful, as the couple harmed themselves and were rebellious against their Creator and Savior.

And yet God used this sin for good for all involved. You can rejoice in God’s plan, in His superintending of all events, even while you regret the sin that initiated those events.

God does not change His mind. He does not look back and see how He could have managed events better. He is all wise. So trust Him, and be confident that in His sovereign reign He is working all events together – even sinful acts that in some sense He regrets – for His glory and His people’s good.

(Thanks to Bill Teal for helping me to think of this illustration during our service discussion and prayer time Tuesday morning. We’d be delighted if you would join us and participate in the discussion: 6:30am Tuesdays, Panera Bread, J.W. Clay Blvd, University City. )

A Prayer to the Sovereign Lord

Recall that Hannah, the mother of Samuel, suffered deep distress and provocation because of her inability to conceive (1 Samuel 1:1-11). Consider these words that she prayed after God granted her heartfelt plea, giving her a son whom she then handed over to the Lord:

The Lord kills and brings to life;
he brings down to Sheol and raises up.
The Lord makes poor and makes rich;
he brings low and he exalts.
He raises up the poor from the dust;
he lifts the needy from the ash heap
to make them sit with princes
and inherit a seat of honor.
For the pillars of the earth are the Lord’s,
and on them he has set the world. (1 Samuel 2:6-8)

Pray with me in response:

O Lord, You are sovereign over all things: Over life and death, over poverty and prosperity, over success and failure. You give us a grant of life and breath and time and resources to be used for Your glory – and You take those away from us when so doing is for Your glory. We acknowledge You as our rightful Sovereign, agreeing with Scripture that You not only have a right to do as You please, but that all You do is good and wise. We ourselves deserve not one iota of all the gifts you give – not even one sip of water or one breath of air. Indeed, we confess that we only deserve Your wrath and judgment.

Throughout our lives You have given us good gift after good gift, and we have failed to thank You for so many. We confess that rather than thank You we have acted as if we deserve them or earned them. So we now say wholeheartedly, Thank You, O gracious and generous Father, for Your ample provision, poured into our overflowing cup.

Yet those obviously good gifts are the ones that most easily produce thankful hearts in us. So now we say further: When you remove any blessing from us – whether health or resources or friends or status or life itself – we know that then too You are doing good. When you lift up someone else to a position higher than our own, we acknowledge that You do right. When we suffer physical or emotional pain, we agree with Your apostle that our deepest afflictions, seen through the lens of eternity, are light and momentary, and always work in us an eternal weight of glory that far surpasses the pain (2 Corinthians 4:17).

We know that all Your goodness to us, however it is expressed, comes about only because of the crucifixion and resurrection of our Savior, the Lord Jesus. We know that His once-and-for-all sacrifice is the only way we gain access to Your presence, the only basis for Your giving us what we don’t deserve. So we bask in what we in no way merit: Your steadfast, everlasting love for us in Christ.

Thank You that both Your provision and Your removal of blessings are part of Your wise governing of the world that will bring about the culmination of all things – the creation of a new heavens and new earth, the summing up of all things in Christ, the salvation of those from every tribe and tongue and nation, the perfection of His glorious Bride, the Church, and the wiping of every tear from our eyes. How we long for this final day! Come, Lord Jesus!