Psalms 115:1-18: a reflection

1Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake. 2Why should the nations say, “Where is their God, now?” 3But our God is in the heavens. He does whatever he pleases. 4Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. 5They have mouths, but they don’t speak. They have eyes, but they don’t see. 6They have ears, but they don’t hear. They have noses, but they don’t smell. 7They have hands, but they don’t feel. They have feet, but they don’t walk, neither do they speak through their throat. 8Those who make them will be like them; yes, everyone who trusts in them. 9Israel, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. 10House of Aaron, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. 11You who fear the LORD, trust in the LORD! He is their help and their shield. 12The LORD remembers us. He will bless us. He will bless the house of Israel. He will bless the house of Aaron. 13He will bless those who fear the LORD, both small and great. 14May the LORD increase you more and more, you and your children. 15Blessed are you by the LORD, who made heaven and earth. 16The heavens are the LORD’s heavens, but he has given the earth to the children of men. 17The dead don’t praise the LORD, nor any who go down into silence, 18but we will bless the LORD, from this time forward and forever more. Praise the LORD!

This psalm opens with a cry that puts glory where it belongs: Not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your steadfast love and your faithfulness. Whatever good comes, whatever is accomplished, the glory belongs not to us but to God. And the psalm goes on to contrast the living God with the idols of the nations, which have mouths but cannot speak, eyes but cannot see, and it adds a striking warning: those who make them become like them, and so do all who trust in them.

Notice both the psalm's opening cry and its warning. The cry is that glory belongs to God, not to us: not to us, but to your name give glory. We are prone to seek glory for ourselves, to take credit, to want to be praised; but the right disposition is to give God the glory for all the good that comes. And the warning is that we become like what we worship: those who worship lifeless idols become lifeless, spiritually blind and deaf like the things they trust.

Both are worth taking to heart. First, give God the glory, not yourself. When good is accomplished through you, resist the pull to take the credit; say with the psalmist, not to us, but to your name give glory. And second, be careful what you worship, for you become like it. If you give your deepest devotion to lifeless things, money, status, idols of any kind, you become spiritually deadened like them; but if you worship the living God, you come to reflect his life. Give God the glory that is his, and worship the living God, not the lifeless idols that deaden all who trust them; for we become like what we worship, and glory belongs to God alone.

Lord, this psalm cries, not to us, LORD, not to us, but to your name give glory, and warns that those who make lifeless idols become like them, and so do all who trust them. Take both to my heart. Help me give you the glory, not myself. I am prone to seek glory for myself, to take credit, to want to be praised; but the right disposition is to give you the glory for all the good that comes. When good is accomplished through me, help me resist the pull to take the credit, and say with the psalmist, not to us, but to your name give glory. And make me careful what I worship, for I become like it. If I give my deepest devotion to lifeless things, money, status, idols of any kind, I become spiritually deadened like them; but if I worship you, the living God, I come to reflect your life. Help me give you the glory that is yours, and worship you, the living God, not the lifeless idols that deaden all who trust them. Glory belongs to you alone.