Desire For Glory

“Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the heathen, to give thanks unto thy holy name, and to triumph in thy praise.” (Ps 106:47 AV)

A prayer for all the saints who are tired of this temporary life!  The context is Israel who was captive because of their own sin.  Speaking of the time of the judges when one or another neighbor would rule over them.  Their circumstances were self-inflicted.  They were suffering because of their own backslidden choices.  However motivated, the truth above is universal for the child of God.  There comes a time when we have had enough of the battle and the wickedness that surrounds us.  All we really desire is to be in glory so that we can praise the LORD with purity and holiness.  All the child of God wants to do is to exit this life and spend all eternity in the glory of God the Father and God the Son.  Sitting at the feet of the One who died for our sin knowing that by His blood, we are victorious.  Don’t misunderstand.  The heathens need the LORD.  They need Him just as badly as I.  Yet, the vast majority will refuse.  It is with this reality we desire the above truth.

I worked in the food service industry in my late teens and early adult life.  That is also when Jesus Christ gloriously redeemed my soul.  The food industry is not an environment that I would encourage young people to pursue.  It is a general disposition of this industry that immaturity with immorality breeds freely.  Where I worked, there was regular vile conversation around immorality.  Drugs and alcohol were also part of that environment.  It was a morally filthy place to work.  I couldn’t wait for Wednesday and Sunday to roll around.  Specially Sunday.  When all of God’s people joined with united heart to worship the LORD in music and around God’s word was a slice of heaven.  My co-workers observed that when I came to work Sunday afternoons, I was often downcast.  It was because the vile environment of the workplace undid what God had just done for me.  My heart began to resent what the world was robbing me of.

The believer that battles for a walk with God in purity and holiness will see somewhat the same struggle.  I have seen it in the elderly.  

After the world had given them everything they hoped for, especially family relationships, the come to realize the world has nothing to offer compared with glory.  I have seen the elderly withdraw themselves into their relationship with the LORD to the exclusion of all others.  It is not that they do not love their family.  It is just that they love the LORD all the more.  There is no shame is desiring glory.  There is not a diagnosis of depression because someone desires the presence of the LORD above all else.  It is actually natural for the child of God to desire the company of his Father more than all others.  If we have the Holy Spirit, they He cries with our spirit, Abba Father!