Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory.
Genuine religious consciousness
I. A consciousness of God’s greatness leading to a contempt for all idols.
1. The majesty of God.
(1) God is great in His moral excellence (verse 1). “Mercy” and “truth” lie at the foundation of all moral greatness. The grand mission of Christ was to bring these into the world in the most impressive forms. “The law came by Moses, but grace and truth by Jesus Christ.” All sound beliefs or convictions are based on truth or reality. Without love all is selfishness, and selfishness is the essence of sin. Without truth all is sham, and sham is the curse of the world. In God these two exist in essential unity and in infinite perfection.
(2) God is great in His sovereignty (verse 3). He is over all. There is no being above Him, the highest are infinitely below Him, and in all His operations He is absolutely free. He hath no counsellor to teach Him new methods of action, no power to restrain Him in any course. He acts according to His own good pleasure, the only being who is absolutely free, independent, and irresponsible.
2. The worthlessness of idols (Psalms 115:4-8).
(1) Material productions.
(2) Human productions.
(3) Worthless productions.
(4) Lying productions.
(5) Symbolic productions. They are but the visible forms of the brutish ignorance, stupidity, and depravity of those who made and worshipped them, mere embodiments of their ideas and wishes.
II. A consciousness of God’s goodness inspiring the highest philanthropy. What is the highest philanthropy? That whose main object is to draw men to the One True and Living God; and the man who is conscious of God’s goodness, who has “tasted and seen that the Lord is good,” will surely address himself to this work--the work of drawing men to God (Romans 10:1). This is what the psalmist felt (Psalms 115:9-15).
III. A consciousness of God’s property leading to a sense of our stewardship (verse 16). He who created the universe owns it, is is His absolute property, and how vast, how immeasurable it is! (1 Chronicles 29:11). But this sense of God’s unbounded wealth leads to the impression of our stewardship of the earth which He hath given us. To the “children of men,” not to a class, but given to them as air and light, and fire and water are given for their common use.
IV. A consciousness of life’s termination urging the discharge of religious duty (verses 17, 18). (Homilist.)
“Non nobis, Domine!”
Every careful reader can see the connection between this 115th psalm and the one which precedes it. In the 114th psalm we see the gracious and grateful Jews sitting around the passover table, having eaten of the lamb, and singing of the miracles of Jehovah at the Red Sea and the Jordan. It must have been a very jubilant song that they sang, “What ailed thee, O thou sea,” etc. When that joyful hymn was finished, and the cup of wine was passed round the table, they struck another note. They remembered their sad condition, as they heard the heathen say, “Where is now their God?” They recollected that, perhaps, for many a year there had been no miracle, no prophet, no open vision, and then they began to chant a prayer that God would appear--not for their sakes, but for His own name’s sake, that the ancient glory, which He won for Himself at the Red Sea and the Jordan, might not be lost, and that the heathen might no longer be able tauntingly to say, “Where is now their God?”
I. A powerful plea in prayer: “Not unto us,” etc. There are times when this is the only plea that God’s people can use. There are other occasions when we can plead with God to bless us, for this reason or for that; but, sometimes, there come dark experiences, when there seems to be no reason that can suggest itself to us why God should give us deliverance, or vouchsafe us a blessing, except this one,--that He would be pleased to do it in order to glorify His own name. You may be emboldened to urge that plea, notwithstanding the vileness of the person for whom you plead. In fact, the sinfulness of the sinner may even be your plea that God’s mercy and lovingkindness may be seen the more resplendently by all who know of the sinful soul’s guilt.
II. The true spirit of piety. “Not unto us, O Lord,” etc. That is to say, true religion does not seek its own honour. For instance, suppose, in preaching the Gospel, a man has, even as a small part of his motive, that he may be esteemed an eloquent person, or that he may have influence over other men’s minds;--for it is lamentably true that this mixture of motives may steal over the preacher’s soul. Ah! but we must fight against this evil with all our might. Somebody once told Master John Bunyan that he had preached a delightful sermon. “You are too late,” said John, “the devil told me that before I left the pulpit.” Satan is a great adept in teaching us how to steal our Master’s glory. “Glory be to God,” should always be the preacher’s motto. And as it should be so with our preaching, do you not think that the same thing is true concerning our praying?
III. A safe guide is theology. When I am going to read the Scriptures, to know what I am to believe, to learn what is to be my creed, even before I open my Bible, it is a good thing to say, “Not unto us, O Lord,” etc. This is, to my mind, a test of what is true and what is false. If you meet with a system of theology which magnifies man, flee from it as far as you can. This is why I believe in the doctrines of grace. I believe in Divine election, because somebody must have the supreme will in this matter, and man’s will must not occupy the throne, but the will of God. The words of Jehovah stand fast like the great mountains.
IV. A practical direction in life.
1. This text will help you in the selection of your sphere of service. You will always be safe in doing that which is not for your own glory, but which is distinctly for the glory of God.
2. Sometimes my text will guide you as to which you should choose out of two courses of action that lie before you. What flesh revolts against, your spirit should choose. Say, “Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto Thy name give glory. I will do that which will most honour my Lord and Master, and not that which would best please myself.”
V. The acceptable spirit in which to review the past.
1. This is the spirit in which to live. Has God blessed us? Do we look back upon honourable and useful lives? Have we been privileged to preach the Gospel, and has the Lord given us converts? Then, let us be sure to stick to the text: “Not unto us, O Lord,” etc.
2. Aye, and when the time comes for us to die, this is the spirit in which to die, for it is the beginning of heaven. What are they doing in heaven? If we could look in there, what should we see? There are crowns there, laid up for those that fight the good fight, and finish their course; but do you see what the victors are doing with their crowns? They will not wear them; no, not they; but they cast them down at Christ’s feet, crying, “Not unto us,” etc. (C. H. Spurgeon.)
Glory to God for public blessings
The inspired author seems to have had his thoughts employed in the contemplation of some public blessing vouchsafed to the house of Israel, and to the house of Aaron; some late and remarkable instance of God’s having been their help and their shield; a devout sense of which made him break out into these words, fall of great humility and pious gratitude: “Not unto us, O Lord,” etc.
1. When the psalmist denies that the glory of those mighty and wonderful successes, wherewith God’s people are at any time blessed, doth belong to them, he intimates that men are apt to ascribe the praise thereof to their own merits, counsels or achievements.
2. When he with earnestness and vehemence repeats that denial, he doth by such reiterated negation imply the great folly and impiety of men’s thus ascribing the glory of such successes to themselves, or to any of the children of men.
3. When he expresses his desire that the glory thereof may be given to God’s name, he directs us to pay the tribute of praise and thanksgiving to that sovereign Being, to whom only of right it is due.
4. When he requires that this glory should be given to God for His mercy and for His truth’s sake, he instructs us that when we receive such blessings from the hands of God, we derive them, not from His justice, but from His clemency; they are not such as we can of right claim, but such as He, out of His unbounded goodness, and regard to those gracious promises, which He hath made to His Church, vouchsafes to grant. (Bishop Smalridge.)
Giving God the glory
I was reading of the battle of Agincourt, in which Henry V figured; and, it is said, after the battle was won--gloriously won--the king wanted to acknowledge the Divine interposition, and he ordered the chaplain to read the psalm of David, and when he came to the words, “Not unto us, O Lord, but unto Thy name be the praise,” the king dismounted, and all the cavalry dismounted, and all the great host of officers and men threw themselves on their faces. Oh, at the story of the Saviour’s love and the Saviour’s deliverance, shall we not prostrate ourselves before Him to-night, hosts of earth and hosts of heaven, falling upon our faces, and crying, “Not unto us, not unto us, but unto Thy name be the glory.” (T. De Witt Talmage.)