"Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion; shout, O daughter of Jerusalem: behold, thy King cometh unto thee: He is just, and having salvation; lowly, and riding upon an ass, and upon a colt the foal of an ass." [Zech 9:9]
Think of the donkey which Jesus rode upon when He fulfilled the prophecy, “thy King cometh unto thee…riding upon an ass,” and the disciples worshipped, as it is written, “blessed be the King that cometh in the name of The Lord: peace in heaven, and glory in the highest.” [Lk 19:38] Is there any among us, reading this account of the glorious King Jesus presenting Himself as the Messiah, that would think the people spoke of the donkey? Is it not obvious to us, that the praise offered up was unto Jesus? For, “some of the Pharisees from among the multitude,” who evidently knew who the people spoke of, and what Psalm they were quoting, “said unto Him, Master, rebuke thy disciples.” [Lk 19:39] Let us be reminded of and see the obvious truth: Jesus’ disciples were praising Him, and not the donkey. They were praising the One who rode and used the donkey, not the donkey itself. As Jesus’ disciples, who are used of Him, it is important that we remember this. For Jesus will use us too. He used the animal in this instance, but He uses humans too. We are “[God’s] creative invention, created in Christ Jesus unto good works;” [Eph 2:10] yes, and again, “[Jesus] gave Himself for us, that He might…purify unto Himself a people for His own possession, zealous of good works.” [Titus 2:14]
Therefore, when we are used of The Lord Jesus for some work, let us not receive the glory, as if we had done anything, but let us give credit to Him. “Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth’s sake.” [Psa 115:1] It is not right for us to receive glory for something Jesus has clearly done; we are as the donkey in the account of Jesus’ coming unto Israel, and the praise we may receive is not for us but for Him.
Thinking of this, let use an analogy that will further show how that praise ought to only ever go to The Lord. Take for instance a photographer. He goes out in the morning and at evening and captures beautiful images of the sunrise and sunset. Showing those pictures to others, let us see how silly it would be and unfitting for those to whom he revealed the pictures, to then praise and extol him for making such a gorgeous sunrise. It would be altogether foolish to attribute the man with any well doing in regard to the sunrise. He didn’t create it after all, he merely took a picture of it. It would be equally absurd for a man to praise and thank and bow to another who pointed out to him a grand tree, waterfall, or something else in creation, saying “behold!” The man who pointed out the beauty in the sunrise, the waterfall, or any other thing, merely pointed it out. He was not the originator, the inventor, nor the sustainer of such a thing, and as such hardly deserves praise for such as if he had done anything. In the same way, then, we are not to receive praise nor to boast when we are used of God, as was the donkey, as if we had done anything. If used of The LORD for a good work, we are merely as the donkey. And, if used of God to teach or exhort or encourage, we are merely the man who points to the skyline and says “behold!” Let us therefore be humble and always give glory to God. “Ascribe unto The LORD, O ye mighty, ascribe unto The LORD glory and strength. Ascribe unto The LORD the glory due unto His name…” [Psa 29:1-2]