God Alone: A Study in Making Much of God
So here's a few thoughts I had on Psalms 72 (from the NLT) today:The psalm at first appears to be all about the king and how he is asking for his kingdom to be prosperous, requesting that all the people in his kingdom are blessed and filled to the brim with the things they need. At first glance, this seems to be a little conceited. Why would the writer be asking God to make his own name great?“...May the mountains yield prosperity for all, and may the hills be fruitful... May there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more. May he reign from sea to sea, and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth... All kings will bow before him, and all nations will serve him... Long live the king! ...May there be abundant grain throughout the land, flourishing even on the hilltops. May the fruit trees flourish like the trees of Lebanon, and may the people thrive like grass in a field. May the king’s name endure forever; may it continue as long as the sun shines. May all nations be blessed through him and bring him praise."Then the last few verses came, and one word jumped off the page. And I got it."Praise the LORD God, the God of Israel, who alone does such wonderful things. Praise his glorious name forever! Let the whole earth be filled with his glory. Amen and amen!" (emphasis mine)Did you catch it? The end of the psalm shows that God ALONE does all these things. And all the king's prosperity is for God's glory, not his own.Can't we relate? We shouldn't desire to be known simply to make our own name great; we should desire to be known so we can make God's name the greatest of all.And then...(I love this last part.)The writer just drops the mic."(This ends the prayers of David son of Jesse.)"How great is that?Psalms 72:1-20 NLTTo tell me how you're making His name great, connect with me here.