I thought it was kinda funny that in both our passages today we have someone hiding from God. Saul hides in the baggage, and Zacchaeus hides in the sycamore tree. As though we can hide from God! And sure enough, God found them. We can't hide from Him either.
Yesterday's passage and Jody's post brought up some very direct questions....
I cannot believe the patience God has with
And our passage today gives us the answer.
For the sake of his great name the Lord will not reject his people, because the Lord was pleased to make you his own. 1 Samuel 12:22 (emphasis mine)
In his sermon The Pleasure of God in His Name, John Piper says....
God has freely, according to his own good pleasure, chosen to make Israel a people for himself... God delights in the freedom of unconditional election. But there is another pleasure of God implied in this verse, namely, that God has pleasure in his name. When he chooses a people, it says, he chooses them for himself, so that when he acts to spare them, he acts for his great name's sake. Therefore beneath and behind God's delight in choosing a people there is a deeper delight, namely, the pleasure God has in his own name....
The point of the exodus was to make a worldwide reputation for God. The point of the ten plagues and miraculous Red Sea crossing was to demonstrate the incredible power of God on behalf of his freely chosen people, with the aim that this reputation, this name, would be declared throughout the whole world. God has great pleasure in his reputation....
Do you cry for mercy on the basis of God's love for his name? The great ground of hope in all the God-centered servants of the Lord has always been the impossibility that God would let his great name be dishonored among the nations. It was inconceivable. This was bedrock confidence. Other things change but not this—not the commitment of God to his name....
At the bottom of all our hope, when everything else has given way, we stand on this great reality: the everlasting, all-sufficient God is infinitely, unwaveringly, and eternally committed to his great and holy name. For the sake of his own great name he will act. It will not be profaned forever. The mission of the church will be victorious. He will vindicate his people and his cause in all the earth. (emphasis mine)
Do you cry for mercy on the basis of God's love for his name?
Your Great Name by Natalie Grant
Lost are saved, find their way, at the sound of your great name
All condemned feel no shame, at the sound of your great name
Every fear has no place at the sound of your great name
The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of your great name
Chorus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name
Verse 2:
All the weak find their strength at the sound of your great name
Hungry souls receive grace at the sound of your great name
The fatherless, they find their rest at the sound of your great name
Sick are healed and the dead are raised at the sound of your great name
Chorus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name
Bridge:
Redeemer, My Healer, Almighty
My savior, Defender, You are My King
Chorus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name
Lost are saved, find their way, at the sound of your great name
All condemned feel no shame, at the sound of your great name
Every fear has no place at the sound of your great name
The enemy; he has to leave; at the sound of your great name
Chorus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name
Verse 2:
All the weak find their strength at the sound of your great name
Hungry souls receive grace at the sound of your great name
The fatherless, they find their rest at the sound of your great name
Sick are healed and the dead are raised at the sound of your great name
Chorus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name
Bridge:
Redeemer, My Healer, Almighty
My savior, Defender, You are My King
Chorus:
Jesus, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain for us, Son of God and Man
You are high and lifted up; that all the world will praise your great name
Tomorrow's passage: 1 Samuel 13-14, Luke 19:28-48
5 comments:
That's a really awesome song. So true.
I think God seeking His own glory is something I'd never considered until our Sunday school class went through Piper's "The Blazing Center" DVD series. That really is His motivation for everything He does and should be ours, too!
I love that song. It does all come down to Him being glorified doesn't it? 1 Samuel 12:24 stuck with me too. "But be sure to fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart; consider what great things he has done for you". Our part to Him deriving pleasure in us. He truly is worthy and amazing!!
I was re-reading the commentary portion of my Life Application Bible again and 1 Samuel 12:23 is rather convicting too - "As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the LORD by failing to pray for you." It's a sin to fail to pray for each other!
Great post! It is all for His glory. Tammy, the "failing to pray" verse hit me too. Definitely an area I still need to work on!
Great post. One of the things that stood out for me was "and as he stood among the people he was a head taller than any of the others." Saul stood out from others and it made him easy to recognize. Our we, as Christians, standing out in the crowd?
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