You Have Made Us For Yourself

The Heavens Declare the Glory of God...Ps 19:1

        The kids and I finished an 8 part DVD series by John Piper called "The Blazing Center" for part of our Bible curriculum this year.  Great stuff. Tons to think about and jumpstart discussions concerning the sovereignty of God.   I recommend it for high schoolers and mature middle schoolers. The sessions were recorded during a youth retreat at his church and they have a very powerful message for teenagers:

God is really serious about His glory.

He lives to be glorified.  He will not NOT be glorified. 
In fact, he created the entire universe to bring Himself glory. 

Consider these passages:

Exodus 14:4 And I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, and he will pursue them. But I will gain glory for myself through Pharaoh and all his army, and the Egyptians will know that I am the LORD.” So the Israelites did this.

Isaiah 48:11 For my own sake, for my own sake, I do this. (Refined you and tested you) How can I let myself be defamed? I will not yield my glory to another.

Psalm 19:1The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the work of his hands

        God is radically God-centered.  He is passionate about his own glory and He wants us to share that passion. In fact, the only way we can glorify Him is to treasure Him above all other things and find our complete satisfaction in Him.  He wants the chief desire and longing of our hearts to be Him. Only Him.

        This brings  up a good question.   Does God's pursuit of His own glory in all things make Him vain?   If we use the same measuring stick to measure God as we do people, it might seem so. That's because we perceive things differently than He does.  His thoughts and ways are not ours. (Isaiah 55:8)  Good thing. 

        If a person made these kinds of self exalting statements we would consider them to be arrogant at least and possibly even delusional because it is painfully obvious that no one is worthy of this kind of exultation. People shouldn't be worshipped. They shouldn't put themselves before everything else. This concept may be somewhat lost these days but for the most part we understand that it isn't "right" to seek our own glory.

        Nevertheless,  our culture is big on self aggrandizing affirmations.  It's not likely that many professional coaches are telling their teams that they should think of themselves with humility.  A parade of musicians, sports figures, polititians, advertisers and others are constantly proclaiming that they are the "best" and that no one even comes close to them.  Most of us read this stuff and wonder just who they think they are?  A gift to humankind?  God? 

        Yeah, that 's just it.  We recognize that people don't deserve to be glorified.  Even nice people.  Heck, even "good" people who do "worthwhile" things with their lives.  Even saints.  We're all flawed and we know it.

        People and things don't make us happy or satisfied.  A perfect God is the only one who is worthy of our complete satisfaction and worship.  After a life of looking for love in all the wrong places, Saint Augustine beautifully declared, " You have made us for yourself, O Lord, and our hearts are restless until they rest in you."

         People spend their lives searching for the thing that will fill up the empty places in their souls-  that will lead to satisfaction and peace.   We all want to be happy.  We all want to have joy.  We all want to be satisfied. We look for it in power, money, relationships, work, substances and self gratification but those things never completely satiate our longing to be happy.  If God is truly a good and loving God, wouldn't he give His people what they want the most?  Wouldn't he want them to pursue happiness and have joy?

        The answer is yes.  God does want people to pursue happiness and have joy.  And the truth is, that happiness and joy can only be found in desiring Him.  God is the only Being whose best gift is Himself.    God's self-exultation is actually the greatest act of His love.  When He says "glorify Me", focus on me, worship me, pursue me- above all else- He is causing us to hold up the only standard, the only One who is worthy of honor and glory- Himself.  He is not being vain.  He is being the only thing He can be- love.  To tell us to pursue anyone or anything else but Him would be to substitute something imperfect for something perfect.  Nothing else will ever satisfy all of our longings like He will.   So, our pursuit of our own joy and happiness, is not in opposition to His pursuit of His Glory,  They are the same when we are completely satisfied in Him.