Not Unto Us

"Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake." The psalmist says it twice, the way a person repeats something they are afraid of getting wrong. The reason he gives has nothing to do with being modest. The glory belongs to God's name because of what His name is: "thy mercy," and "thy truth."

Then the psalm praises what God is, set against a row of statues. "But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased. Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men's hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not." The list ends with a verdict on the people who carved them: "They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them." You slowly become like whatever you trust to help you. That is why the psalm keeps calling God's people to trust in the Lord, because "he is their help and their shield."

So hear the psalm's own blessing spoken over you: "The LORD hath been mindful of us: he will bless us." "He will bless them that fear the LORD, both small and great." "Ye are blessed of the LORD which made heaven and earth." "Small and great" is the phrase to keep, because it tells you God's blessing is not handed out by size. Go into the day blessed by the Maker of heaven and earth, and give the glory back to Him, where the psalm puts it.

Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 209 is A Pillar in the Temple (Revelation 3:12).

All 365 readings in Daily Manna, Year Two