My soul shall make its boast in the Lord; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together. (Psalm 34:2-3)
The Bible says that boasting that is born out of arrogance is evil (James 4:16). It is also written that to fear the Lord is to hate evil and that pride and arrogance are evil (Proverbs 8:13). There are other passages that echo the same sentiment establishing the fact that boasting about ones’ self is repulsive and, frankly, ignorant. It is ignorant because the proud ignore the fact that all their gifts and talents come from the Lord. When they were conceived in their mother’s womb, God infused them with certain gifts and skills that were intended to be used for His purpose. The fact of the matter is, we have no personal worth except for that which the Lord has given to us.
On the other hand, there are those like David who do not boast in themselves but whose boasting is about the Lord. In his life, David was given many accolades and with just reason. When it was said that “Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands,” it was because the young shepherd had displayed great courage while others older and stronger shrank in fear. One of Saul’s servants described David to the king in this way: “He is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a handsome person; and the Lord is with him” (1 Samuel 16:18). Of all these praiseworthy talents and attributes he possessed, the only one David seemed to care about was that the Lord was with him. If he was tempted to boast of himself, he restrained it well, choosing instead to pour out praises and adoration upon the One who had delivered him time after time from the proud and arrogant person.
To know that, in feast or in famine, the Lord is with you is a both a comfort and an encouragement to those humble enough to appreciate it. Frankly, the proud don’t and maybe can’t comprehend the value of knowing that God’s favor is more precious than anything in this world. The humble, however, are responsive to such because they are, more often than not, broken and downtrodden people. Their boast is not in themselves or in others because their hope is in the Lord. So then, to hear that someone else who walks in humility — a man like David — is delivered from his peril by the Lord certainly encourages the humble to believe that God will do the same for them. So to those who are humble and who know that the Lord is with them, David issues this invitation: “Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together.”
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
Recent Comments