“For as the rain and the snow come down from heaven
and do not return there but water the earth,
making it bring forth and sprout,
giving seed to the sower and bread to the eater,
11so shall my word be that goes out from my mouth;
it shall not return to me empty,
but it shall accomplish that which I purpose,
and shall succeed in the thing for which I sent it.
(Isaiah 55:10-11)
When God gives, an appropriate response is to honour God.
We honour Him for what He’s given and we honour Him for who He is. The latter helps us put the former into perspective.
Honouring God for who He is starts with acknowledging Him as a Giver. A giver of good gifts. Indeed, the Source of all that’s good. This acknowledgement of who He is and how He operates ensures we don’t confuse or misunderstand Him – He deserves honour because He is a Giver and the Source.
Honouring God also goes into acknowledging Him as the standard of good and celebrating that which He has given as being in line with that standard. Sometimes, we might despise or downplay the gift because it didn’t match our desire or standard. That highlights the need for repentance to approach things from God’s perspective as much as possible. That attitude will help put things into their proper perspective.
For what we do when we honour God is we ascribe to Him the highest value we can. We say to Him, “You are the greatest and it’s brilliant and great to receive from You again. Blessed be your wonderful name for this expression of your character again.” What we’re also doing is establishing that the Giver is of far greater importance than the gift and the response seals and affirms that.
And as we honour God, so we’ll be careful to steward that which He’s given, speaking of which …
For His Name’s Sake
C. L. J. Dryden
Shalom
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