How should this concept affect how you perceive weaknesses, and what you do in response to a need? do not glorify God by providing His needs, but by praying that He would provide ours-and trusting Him to answer.' According to Piper, 'The Giver gets the glory. Piper insists that we glorify God 'not by serving Him, but being served by Him. His take on this pivotal verse motivates me to call on God when I'm afflicted so He'll get to display His might and receive applause. I'm indebted to John Piper, whose comments on Psalm 50:15 acquainted me with this truth. Being at wit's end magnifies His name because He gets a chance to do what only He can do. He fortifies us or alters circumstances, and we praise Him as a result. Then God answers our plea and displays His power in some manner. We're prompted to pray due to the limits of our resourcefulness and the press of outside forces. When we feel weak or inadequate, we're forced to trust Him since there's no other recourse. The Lord invites us, 'Call upon Me in the day of trouble I shall rescue you, and you will honor Me.' The deep roots of this claim grow in the fertile soil of Psalm 50:15. That's when God gets the chance to throw His weight around. A reassuring irony of Christian living is that He receives more glory through our fragility and in threatening situations, because that's when we most need Him. Yet I'm convinced that it's our weakness, not strength our neediness, not sterling psychological health our brokenness, not stability our inadequacy, not unflagging confidence and our dire circumstances, not trouble-free days, which offer the greater opportunity to enhance God's reputation among the persons we meet, know and serve.

When we repel a nagging temptation- again-or exhibit uncompromising character under pressure, do we make the Lord look good? Absolutely.

When he pays the price of mundane, unglamorous, yet vital hours of preparation, does the Bible teacher glorify God? Yes.ĭoes the missionary couple's choice to leave behind family and friends to go overseas honor Him? Of course.ĭoes the homemaker's winsome presentation of the gospel to a neighbor over coffee convey God's worth? Undoubtedly. First Timothy 6:16 represents many other verses when it salutes the superlative value of Christ: 'To Him be honorand eternal dominion' (emphasis on 'honor' mine). Your church gives an honorariumto a guest preacher or conference leader, suggesting that he or she deserves a monetary investment. John Piper goes so far as to say, 'God's aim in creating the world was to display the value of his own glory.'Ĭlosely connected to the concept of God's glory is the notion of honoring God, which carries the idea of worthinessor deserving a return. Paul wrote, 'Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God' (1 Cor. The psalmist cried, 'Not to us, O Lord, not to us, But to Your name give glory' (Ps. God insists that He created us for his glory (Isa. That's the root concept of the noun 'glory' and the verb 'glorify.' God is heavy in the figurative sense of significance or importance. The Bible's emphasis on God's gloryrefers to his weight. Grasping it is essential for absorbing the principle framing this chapter. Before I elaborate on this perspective, allow me to dissect the concept of God's glory. I'm learning, ever-so-slowly, to view afflictions of this sort as opportunities to display God's glory through my life and ministry. Other times it's another bout of joy-sapping depression, blanketing me, smothering initiative, making routine responsibilities more challenging. One verbal sparring match occurred the same week I taught leaders on the subject of conflict management, instilling doubts about my qualifications, causing me to feel hopeless concerning our relationship. Perhaps it's a drought of observable results in your sphere of service or some sort of delay, such as an ever-widening time gap between vocational ministry positions.įor me, it's another tense encounter with my younger grown son who has Asperger Syndrome. Or the inability to make financial ends meet due to a recent proliferation of medical bills. Or what requires God's intervention may be weaknesses of temperament that have come to a head, leaving you with little fuel to run on. An estranged daughter who once again rebuffs your attempt to reconcile. The church critic who isn't mature enough to meet with you face-to-face and resorts to backstabbing in conversations with other members.

Perhaps it's the unrealistic deadline or workload your supervisor gave. What constitutes a deep-felt need or sense of helplessness differs among God's servants.

Weakness strength bible verse