For God’s Glory

“Deliver us from his hand that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God” (Isaiah 37:20). 

 Consider our prayers for deliverance, and specifically, our motivation behind them.  In Isaiah 37, King Hezekiah prayed to the LORD as the unstoppable nation of Assyria stood at the doorsteps of Judah seeking to overthrow it.  The scene was ominous, the people of Judah were scared, and Hezekiah prayed to God for deliverance ‘that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that You alone, LORD, are God’.  

 Consider how this prayer aligns with God’s glory as told in Ezekiel 36:22. “Thus says the Lord God, ‘It is not for your sake, O house of Israel, that I am about to act, but for My holy name, which you have profaned among the nations, which you have profaned in their midst.  Then the nations will know that I am the LORD,’ declares the Lord God, ‘when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight’.”  The result of the revelation of God’s glory was for their good; He brought them into their own land (36:24), cleansed them (v25), gave them a new heart (v26), gave them His Spirit (v27), multiplied grain and fruit (v29-30), and cultivated the desolate land (v35).  

 When facing personal adversity, may we pray in alignment with God’s own heart that all is for His glory, and trust that the resulting byproduct of His glorification in our lives is far better than any comfort we seek from a mere deliverance from hardship.  In the words of Isaiah 25:9, may our lives be a living testimony of “Behold, this is our God…”. All is for God’s glory, and by His grace, it’s for our good too.