From our reading in Psalm 74 today (verses 18 and 22):
Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs,and a foolish people reviles your name.
Arise, O God, defend your cause;remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!
Probably no text in the Bible reveals the passion of God for his own glory more clearly and bluntly as Isaiah 48:9-11 where God says,
For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction.For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.
I have found that for many people these words come like six hammer blows to a man-centered way of looking at the world:
For my name’s sake!
For the sake of my praise!
For my own sake!
For my own sake!
How should my name be profaned!
My glory I will not give to another!
What this text hammers home to us is the centrality of God in his own affections. The most passionate heart for the glorification of God is God’s heart. God’s ultimate goal is to uphold and display the glory of his name.
To read the rest of John Piper’s Taste and See article, click here:
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 