In yesterday’s devotion we shared how a humble heart brings true joy to our God. In today’s devotion I would like to discuss how a resolute mind, set on proclaiming just who our God is and how good He is, brings Him great glory. With a humble heart we acknowledge to ourselves just how real and wonderful our heavenly Father is, but with a resolute mind we tell the world how great a God we serve.
In our country today, our God is being mocked in every conceivable way. Our movies are full of illicit sex, Satan and sin are being worshipped in song, abortion is our hidden holocaust, and on it goes. Anything and everything precious to God is being destroyed and ridiculed. The very honor of God is being trampled on and I believe He is waiting to see how we respond.
That They “May Know.”
David, Elijah, and Hezekiah were three men of God, who when they saw how their precious God was being made an object of reproach, responded in such a way, that not only deeply pleased God, but brought His awesome power into action.
David
When David, who at the time was still a shepherd boy, saw how the Philistine giant, Goliath, was taunting the armies of God, he was deeply moved to defend the honor of his God. He went right into the battlefield, and the Bible tells us: “Then David said to the Philistine, ‘You come to me with a sword, a spear, and a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have taunted. This day the Lord will deliver you up into my hands, and I will strike you down and remove your head from you. And I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky and the wild beasts of the earth, that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel.’” (1 Samuel 17:45-46).
David’s desire was for all the earth to know, that his God was and is the only true God, and that he would not allow anyone to mock Him. To David, God’s honor had to be defended at all costs. When God saw David’s desire, He made sure that his slingshot would hit its mark.
Elijah
In King Ahab’s time Israel had backslidden so much that she had over 450 prophets of the god Baal, whom she put more stock in than the prophets of the living God, Jehovah. Elijah, who was a true prophet of the Lord, was deeply hurt to see how the children of Israel had reproached God through this wicked idol worship. Elijah was determined to show all the world which God was still in control of the earth. He set up a test that would not only defend the glory of his God, but demonstrate His limitless power. (1 Kings 18) gives us the full details of this marvelous challenge.
Referring to the 450 prophets of Baal we read: “Now let them give us two oxen; and let them choose one ox for themselves and cut it up, and place it on the wood, but put no fire under it; and I will prepare the other ox and lay it on the wood, and I will not put a fire under it. Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord, and the God who answers by fire, He is God…” (1 Kings 18:23-24).
Needless to say, the prophets of Baal failed to bring down fire from heaven. But when it was Elijah’s turn to defend his God, he made sure that all those around him heard these words: “Answer me, O Lord, answer me, that this people may know that You, O Lord, are God, and that You have turned their heart back again.” (1 Kings 18:37).
Elijah loved his God so much that he would do anything to show everyone that God will not be mocked. It was Elijah’s faithfulness that brought down the fire from above and caused the people to fall on their faces in fear of the Lord.
Hezekiah
King Hezekiah also could not bear to have God mocked any longer through the evil taunts of Sennacherib, the Assyrian king. When he received a letter from the messengers of Sennacherib, Hezekiah took it to the house of the Lord, spread it out before God, and prayed a special prayer which moved God in one of the most spectacular ways in all of Scripture.
God’s honor was so important to King Hezekiah that he prayed this wonderful and moving prayer: “Now, O Lord our God, I pray, deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, O Lord, are God.” (2 Kings 19:19). Not only did God hear this sincere prayer but He sent the Angel of the Lord to destroy 185,000 of the Assyrians.
When David, Elijah, and Hezekiah saw that God was being reproached they in union prayed and spoke the words that God so loves to hear: “that they may know” just who is the true God in Heaven.
When we make God’s glory and honor the chief motive in our prayers, words, and actions we will begin to see the move of God manifest itself in new and dynamic ways.
Just what moves God the most? When we humble ourselves before the Lord with a broken and contrite heart and a true spirit of humility, we begin to touch the throne of glory. And when we combine this inner state of being with an outward desire to see the name of the Lord glorified and reverenced as our chief motive in life, be prepared to see His glory from on high rain down from His throne.