To God Be the Glory

“I am the Lord; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.” (Isaiah 42:8, ESV)

One of my most favorite Hymns is, “To God Be the Glory.” The first verse starts, “To God be the glory – great things He hath done!” The chorus concludes, “O come to the Father thru Jesus the Son, and give Him the glory – great things He hath done.”

How wonderful it would be if everyone in the world would live out the words of this hymn. Of course, we cannot expect those outside the body of faith to glorify God for they do not recognize Christ as the incarnate God. Therefore, these words are a reminder for us, the chosen people of God. We must give God the glory.

Why have the chosen people of God struggled with this throughout the course of history? The reason is that man struggles with the flesh. This struggle results in the exaltation of man and misdirected devotion. The Lord speaks to this issue in this verse recorded by Isaiah, “my glory I give to no other; nor my praise to carved idols.” The nation of Israel constantly struggled with the problem of humanism and idolatry, and I am afraid that the New Testament believer does also.

How do we struggle with this today? First, let us look at this problem of exalting man. We have a fine line that exists between positive reinforcement of a person’s efforts and glorifying the person. I believe we cross the line when we give the person praise for the results rather than recognizing the effort. While we should affirm one’s effort, we can never forget the sovereignty and providence of God in the results. Even in recognizing the effort of people, we must remember that it is not us who live, but Christ in us (Galatians 2:20).

In the ministry, I have seen pastors and church leaders boasting about the growth in their congregations, or the number of baptisms. To talk about this is not wrong. Neither is it wrong to talk about the people whom the Lord used in the growth. However, it is wrong to begin thinking that human ingenuity caused the increase. When people use the pronoun I and me exclusively in speaking of these things, they appear to have crossed the line.

This example leads me to another problem of humanism and its entrance to the church. We often find ourselves reading books about ministry and about the Bible more than the Bible itself. This is an indication that we may be looking to human methodology rather than the Lord. For example, after reading Rick Warren’s “Purpose Driven Church” many pastors, having visions of grandeur, set out to do the same thing with their churches. This made Warren’s methods head of the church rather than Jesus. I confess that in the past, I did the same.

This can lead us to idolatry or misdirected devotion. We have a tendency to become devoted to things. Our obsessions matter. If we are obsessed with people, entertainment, money, hobbies, etcetera, we will not be obsessed with the Lord. This is a dangerous trap, which I believe captures a large percentage of professing Christians.

What is the result of the exaltation of man (humanism) and devotion to things (materialism), both of which are idolatry? These shift the glory that is due to God to man. This means that we worship the creature rather than the creator. This produces an inevitable weakness in our Christian life and in the church.

What is our solution? First, we must be vigilant to realize that due to our fleshly weaknesses we are prone to struggle with these forms of idolatry. We must watch for its subtle infusion and repent from it. Second, we must seek God with fervor. When we seek Him with a whole heart, we will find that the Spirit will control us and give us victory over these struggles with the flesh.

Remember, “To God be the glory – great things He hath done.”