See if you can recognize any of these mainstream worship songs:
Hosanna – Hillsong
How Great is Our God – Chris Tomlin
Glory to God Forever – Fee
You’re singing one of these in your head right now, aren’t you? We talk and sing about God’s Glory so often in church. But the question is this: do we share a common understanding of what God’s Glory is really all about. It has been said that God’s Glory is the sum total of all His attributes. We speak in these terms from time to time. When someone enters the room we might say, “There she is in all her glory.” This means you have seen the total person, all that she is. When it comes to our infinite God we will never be able to fully grasp or even see the fullness of His Glory!
In Exodus 33 Moses asks God to show him His Glory and God responds by allowing Moses to see His Goodness – just one of His attributes! God tells Moses, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live!” If we were to see God in all His Glory it would be the end of us! Despite this truth, we were created to see glimpses of God’s Glory and to give Him glory with our lives.
I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made.” Isaiah 43:6-7
Here in Isaiah we see that even in exile God had a plan to bring His people back, and we see this great truth, that everyone who is called by His name was created for His glory. God created you so that you could glory in Him—in His Goodness, His Mercy, His Grace, His Compassion, and all those attributes that make up His glory.
Do you see God as all glorious?
Do you see Him as the most treasured person in your life?
Do you value your relationship with God above all other relationships or possessions?
God is not willing to share His glory with any competitors!
“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.” Isaiah 48:11
What things in your life are competing for glory? Our world is filled with competitors! Pray and ask the Lord to reveal the things in your life that may be competing for God’s glory. He will not share it with another and He and He alone is worthy of all the Glory. He proved this by His great love for us which He demonstrated through the giving of His Son – Jesus Christ who is, “the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power.” Hebrews 1:3a