“Give unto the Lord the glory due to His name” (Psalms 29:2)

“Thus says the Lord … let him who glories glory in this, That he understands and knows Me” (Jeremiah 9:23-24). This is good advice. Pride is a great human trait when it’s directed toward the Creator, but when pride blinds sinners to their need of God, it’s deadly. “Pride goes before destruction, And a haughty spirit before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18). “A man's pride will bring him low, But the humble in spirit will retain honor” (Proverbs 29:23). “When pride comes, then comes shame; But with the humble is wisdom” (Proverbs 11:2).

Saints glorify and boast in God, not themselves. “God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” (Galatians 6:14). “The wisdom of this world is foolishness with God … Therefore let no one boast in men” (1 Corinthians 3:19-21). “God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty … that no flesh should glory in His presence …’He who glories, let him glory in the Lord.’” (1 Corinthians 1:27-31).

There’s nothing in man in which we should glory; for whatever good we have; it comes from God. The moment we glorify ourselves, since there’s only one God, we set ourselves up as rivals to Him. Every battle within the saint, between his flesh and his spirit, his Old Man and his New Man, is won only if the saint submits to Christ as Lord. That’s why the scriptures tell us to pray “with thanksgiving”. It’s perhaps the hardest struggle of the Christian life to learn this sentence - “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, But to Your name give glory” (Psalms 115:1).