“Give unto the Lord the Glory Due unto His Name.”
By N. Orcutt
“The people that are with thee are too many for me to give the Midianites into their hands, lest Israel vaunt themselves against me, saying, Mine own hand hath saved me.” Judges 7:2. We have in this scripture two ideas forcibly impressed upon our minds: the Lord’s jealousy of his own honor and glory, and the proneness of the human heart to arrogate to itself the credit, honor, or glory justly due to another. The Lord, unchangeable, guards his honor as jealously to-day, as when he directed Gideon to take but three hundred of the thirty-two thousand Israelites that followed him, and go forth to vanquish the host of the Midianites and Amalekites, who “lay along the valley like grasshoppers for multitude.” He would guard against any possibility of their taking the glory of the victory to themselves. We have a remarkable illustration of these principles in the case of the proud monarch of Babylon, Nebuchadnezzar. To him the Lord gave, “a kingdom, power, strength, and glory.” Dan. 2:37. But he forgot the bountiful Giver, and, in the pride of his heart, took to himself the glory and honor of the dominion conferred by the great Creator. How forcibly does the pride of his heart find expression in the language: “Is not this great Babylon that I have built,” &c. Dan. 4:30. But he learned, by sad experience, his error, learned to ascribe praise and honor to him that liveth forever, whose dominion is an everlasting dominion, and his kingdom is from generation to generation. “And all the inhabitants of the earth are reputed as nothing; and he doeth according to his will in the army of Heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand.” Dan. 4:34, 35. We may not expect that the Lord will accept our service, rendered when self and selfish interests predominate. He would have us realize the majesty of his character, and our own weakness and dependence upon him. He would have us feel the greatness and sacredness of the work; that the work is his, and that we are but the humble instruments in his hands to carry it forward. The interests of his cause can only be advanced as his blessing rests upon the means used. Paul may plant, and Apollos may water, but God alone can give the increase. That blessing we may not expect unless we labor in humility, deeply sensible of our own weakness. While the glory of God and the advancement of the interests of the cause of truth are the objects for which we labor, we may hope for a measure of success to attend our efforts. The three hundred chosen men under Gideon, routed the host encamped against them,—the battle cry, “The sword of the Lord and of Gideon,” ringing in their ears, they fled in dismay. Going forth to conflict with the same spirit, attended by the same blessing, we cannot fail. May the Lord help us thus to labor, ever remembering that “before honor is humility;” and that “pride goeth before destruction, and an haughty spirit before a fall.”