Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to Your name be the glory, because of Your love and faithfulness. Why do the nations say, "Where is their God?" Our God is in heaven; He does whatever pleases Him. But their idols are silver and gold, made by the hands of men. They have mouths, but cannot speak, eyes, but they cannot see; they have ears, but cannot hear, noses, but they cannot smell; they have hands, but cannot feel, feet, but they cannot walk; nor can they utter a sound with their throats...trust in the LORD - He is our help and shield...Praise the LORD. (Psalm 115:1-11; 16)
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Before we dive into this passage, I have a random request for you... I want you to make a mental list of all of the things (and people) that fought for your attention yesterday. It could deal with work, family, friends, chores, sports, ect.
Here is my quick list:
-My waking children
-all of my upcoming to-do's
-New projects at work
-Sermon prep
-My phone
-Stella, our office Keurig machine
-My Facebook news feed
-My car's gas light
-My interns and coworkers
-Social media
-Emailsssss
-My hungry belly
-More work responsibilities
-RANDOM allergies
-The bowl of peanut butter M&M's
-My tall grass
-And my family
And this - obviously - is not a fully detailed and completed list of everything that fought for my attention. But as you can see, there was a lot of attention grabbers in my day. And hopefully you too were able to think up a hefty list.
Though the majority of our daily attention grabbers are not "bad," there is a subtle lure that they bring into our lives. In fact, as worldly things and responsibilities fight for our attention, we slowly loosen our ability to be attentive towards God.
And without realizing it, we can quickly grant our full attention to the world instead of to the LORD.
Today's passage reminds us that the things of this world cannot compare with the One who designed it. He is the only one to possess never ending love and steadfast faithfulness. He is the only way to complete satisfaction.
The psalmist speaks of people worshiping man-made idols... things that they look to for help; for feelings of satisfaction; things that have won their attention and have stolen their worship.
Unlike God, these things cannot see, hear, smell, feel, or speak.
Though Stella - our wonderful Keurig machine - gives me temporary pleasure and energy, she cannot see, hear, feel, yet alone, love. Laugh all you want, but if you're honest, how often do you look to worldly things to provide you with satisfaction and completeness?
Unlike the world and all of it's created things, God hears. God feels. God sees. God speaks. He loves without question. He remains regardless of our doings. And He sustains us forever.
Nothing - and no one - on earth can do all of these things.
This is why the psalmist writes: "Not to us, O LORD, not to us but to Your name be the glory, because of Your love and faithfulness."
He realizes that we have nothing compared to God. Though this world is full of good things, God is the greatest. Though this world is full of people who love, God is love. And though we are surrounded by jobs, friends, and family members who promise to be faithful, God is the essence of faithfulness.
The full attention of our heart - or dare I say, the glory from our heart - should be given not to ourselves and our hefty lists of attention grabbers, but to the name of the LORD.
So today, I challenge you to be attentive to where you give your attention. Is it to your hefty list or to your GREAT God?
Let us glorify Him together. And as always, we would love for you to join us in discussion! You can comment your thoughts on today's Instagram post! Find it at Instagram.com/DeclareGlory.
Blessings,
Greg, Declare Glory
