"His glory is great in thy salvation: honour and majesty hast thou laid upon him." [Psa 21:5]
Speaking of “the king,” David writes that “His glory is great in [The LORD’s] salvation: honour and majesty hast [He] laid upon him.” This is quite remarkable, given that David had many earthly and fleshly things to glory of. If he wanted to boast about something of worldly value, he had no lack of material. He was “of a beautiful countenance…cunning in playing [the harp]…[was] a mighty [and] valiant man, and a man of war, and prudent in matters…and the LORD [was] with him.” [1 Sam 16:12; 18] This is very similar to Paul, who said, “If any other man thinketh that he hath whereof he might trust in the flesh, I more: Circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, an Hebrew of the Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee…” [Phil 3:4-5] And similarly to the king’s boasting (glorying) here in Psalms, so too Paul responded to these earthly things, proclaiming,
“But what things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ. Yea doubtless, and I count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord: for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung, that I may win Christ, And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.” [Phil 3:7-9]
In both cases the response is the same, though spoken differently, and the sum of it is well said of Paul: “But God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world.” [Gal 6:14] As Christians, we have not one thing to boast of outside of Jesus. For without Him we are nothing; for it is written, “we are sufficient of ourselves to think any thing as of ourselves; but our sufficiency is of God” and again, “for if a man think himself to be something, when he is nothing, he deceiveth himself.” [Gal 6:3] We find our value and our strength in Jesus’ salvation, The LORD’s salvation; and if we shall boast, it will be of the glorious salvation wrought by our God. It shall not be of our own strength, for we have none in-and-of ourselves, but any boasting shall be of His strength and His salvation; and as Paul again states, “If I must needs boast, I will boast of the things which concern mine weaknesses.” [2 Cor 11:30]
If we boast (glory), let it be in Jesus’ cross/our God’s salvation, as the king in Psalms; yes, let it be in the fact that we were lost sinners destined for Hell but our great God pulled us up out of that “horrible pit” “wherein is no water” and from “out of the miry clay” and has from thence graciously and mercifully “set [our] feet upon [the] Rock” of Jesus Christ “and established [our] goings” in Him, granting us that wonderful and “unspeakable gift” of everlasting life which has been given to us from the treasure of God’s “abundant mercy” and which exhibits grace that is “exceeding abundant with faith and love which is in Christ Jesus.” [Psa 40:2, Zech 9:11, 2 Cor 9:15, 1 Pe 1:3, 1 Tim 1:14]
God receives glory when it is seen that we are weak and He is strong; that despite our weaknesses, He is still able to work through us, save us, sanctify us, and use us. It gives God no glory when we are self sufficient and never in need of His help; but it gives God much glory when we are put to the test and see our need, when we cry out for His mercy, when in our weakness His strength and grace are perfected.
Click here to see other posts in Daily Meditations on The Glory of Jesus, Vol I