Thursday, January 14, 2010

Why is glory so important to God?

God understands glory better than we do.

The story of Gideon is all about glory.  In the book of Judges we read that 135,000 soldiers are attacking God's people.  Gideon scrabbles together 32,000 to fight their enemy--and most likely die losing the battle.  But God was going to win that battle for them--and knew something important about glory.  He needed to make it obvious that HE, not they, was the key factor.  It's theoretically possible that 32,000 men could overthrow 135,000.  So God commanded Gideon's army be whittled down to 300 to ensure that the fighting men would have no right to claim credit after the battle (Judges 7:2).

But why is giving God glory such a big deal?

The end of the story gives us a hint.  Gideon couldn't resist claiming a little glory for himself; he made an ephod of gold from the plunder collected from his fallen enemies and put it in his home town.  People started worshipping it and it became 'a trap for Gideon and his family' (Judges 8:27).  Glory corrupts everyone except God himself.

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