All for the Glory of God

Matt Chandler, in The Explicit Gospel, writes:

     "God’s glory is what drives the universe; it is why everything exists.

     "The supremacy of God’s glory is everywhere in the Bible because God’s plan is for it to be supreme everywhere in the world. This is the story of the Bible, not you or me. It is God and God alone, God’s name and namesake alone. The point of everything is God’s glory alone so that to God alone will be the glory."

As I let this single fact of God’s glory sink in, I find it affects my thinking—and my praying—about everything.

After Moses' first request of Pharoah to let the people go and worship the Lord God, Pharoah  increased the people's burdens, requiring them to find their own straw to make bricks, without reducing their quota. The Israelite foremen complained to Moses and Moses went to God with this complaint:

"O Lord, why have you done evil to this people?

Why did you ever send me?"

Exodus 5:22 

We sense his discouragement, his frustration, as things did not go as he expected. No wonder he complained,

“For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, 

he has done evil to this people, 

and you have not delivered your people at all” 

Exodus 5:23

Like us, Moses thought that God’s commission should bring immediate results. If only he had had verses like Isaiah 55:8, 9—

"For my thoughts are not your thoughts,

neither are your ways my ways," 

declares the Lord.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth,

so are my ways higher than your ways

 and my thoughts than your thoughts."  

If only he had understood the need for God to display His glory. God was not using Moses to deliver the Israelites for the sake of His people. Not even for the sake of His chosen leaders. God would bring deliverance for His glory. He chose Abraham for His glory. He chose His descendants for His own glory, to be a holy people for His glory, to provide a holy blood line for the Messiah as part of His glorious plan of redemption.

Since His glory was the ultimate purpose of deliverance, Pharaoh would refuse to let God’s people go again and again so that God could demonstrate His power and glory again and again. If Pharaoh had acquiesced to Moses’ initial request, God would not have demonstrated His power over all the Egyptian gods, His power over creation, His power over kings’ hearts.

I think of that as I lay my requests before God. I think of that as I pray for my grandson, whom I have labelled as AWOL, away without leave.

My initial reaction when he left home was to ask, “How could he reject God and family?” I was hurt—hurt for my daughter and son-in-law, hurt for myself, hurt for the extended family.

But it is not about our hurt. It is not even about my grandson. It is all about God. Could God be answering our prayers behind the scenes in ways we cannot even imagine? Could God be planning to demonstrate His glory through this group of young people who swallowed the lies of a false teacher who had infiltrated the ranks of the Christian college he attended?

I’m not saying that when God acts for His glory we don’t matter. We matter because we are created in His image. We matter because God’s love for us brings glory to Himself.

So when I pray for my grandson, I pray that God will be glorified in his life. I pray that God will work a revival in the midst of this whole group that came from Christian homes but swallowed the lies of the world.

And God gives hope in the midst of our wait, of our helplessness, of our blindness.

A glimmer of hope came last fall when my sister shared her prayer request for her nephew in her small group. A woman new to the group immediately knew who she was talking about. It turns out that she was very good friends with him at college. She was able to share that he had hung out with a group referred to as the “intellectuals”, students who hashed out their doubts, students who, regrettably, focused on those doubts and went AWOL. Maybe it was about more than just their coach who told them they were brainwashed and needed to separate from their families. They fed each other. They were already open to lies.

God makes our world so small! That a fellow student should show up in our small city at our church, a woman who knew the situation that caused him to go AWOL, in fact a woman who still communicates with him now and then because they were very good friends. Apparently he contacted her a couple months ago saying they needed to chat. This woman is happily married and a couple years older than my grandson, but the connection is great and she loves the Lord.

The providential placement of her in my sister’s small group brings glory to God! He is amazing as He works these tiny details together—for His glory! I can still say it is for His glory even though, as yet, we have not seen results from her conversation with him.

Is God working? Yes, indeed. Will God get the glory in my grandson's situation? Of course! God always works to bring things around for His glory.

I pray I will always remember that the bottom line is God’s glory. Whether the prayer is for a physical ailment, an emotional situation or rebellion, God’s glory should be the ultimate goal of every prayer request we bring before Him.

And seeking God’s glory first will give us comfort when the answer doesn’t come quickly or in the manner we expect. God is always at work, we just don’t always see it. And when we do see it, may we bow humbly in adoration and thanksgiving.