Psalm 115

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory
for your unfailing love and faithfulness.
2 Why let the nations say, “Where is their God?”
3 Our God is in the heavens, and he does as he wishes.
4 Their idols are merely things of silver and gold, shaped by human hands.
5 They have mouths but cannot speak, and eyes but cannot see.
6 They have ears but cannot hear, and noses but cannot smell.
7 They have hands but cannot feel, and feet but cannot walk,
and throats but cannot make a sound.
8 And those who make idols are just like them, as are all who trust in them.
9 O Israel, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.
10 O priests, descendants of Aaron, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.
11 All you who fear the Lord, trust the Lord! He is your helper and your shield.
12 The Lord remembers us and will bless us. He will bless the people of Israel
and bless the priests, the descendants of Aaron.
13 He will bless those who fear the Lord, both great and lowly.
14 May the Lord richly bless both you and your children.
15 May you be blessed by the Lord, who made heaven and earth.
16 The heavens belong to the Lord, but he has given the earth to all humanity.
17 The dead cannot sing praises to the Lord, for they have gone into the silence of the grave.
18 But we can praise the Lord both now and forever! Praise the Lord!

The Psalmist presents us with an interesting challenge today. “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name goes all the glory for your unfailing love and faithfulness.” He reveals one of the insidious qualities of human nature…the ability to believe that we can take on the qualities of another simply by affiliation.

Another term for this is “armchair quarterback.” I faithfully follow my college football team each week. To the degree that I am registered on one of the blog pages that discusses the game each weekend. I am always amazed at how “smart” these bloggers are. It appears that…if you listen to them…our team would never lose a game. They know when the coach should be fired. They know when the players should be yanked off the field…and which ones. They have the prescription for a perfect outcome every week…after the fact.

I often read and wonder…”if they are so smart, why aren’t they coaching the team?” The truth is they aren’t as smart as they think they are. But…they are hooked up to a blog page that allows them to be “the smartest person in the room.”

As Christians…if we aren’t careful…we have a tendency to do the same thing with our faith. We parade around like we are something special because we figured out the key to salvation…like we deserve Gods unfailing love and kindness. This kind of arrogance doesn’t look very good on a person who is supposed to demonstrate the same humility Christ did (Philippians 2).

I suppose it’s hard to be humble when we have a God who is “our helper and our shield, who remembers us and will bless us.” Humans have a tendency to want to show it off. “Look what I have that you don’t have!” Let’s not fall into that trap.

Be bold out there today…