Psalm 109: 21-26

For Thy name’s sake” is a key phrase in this passage. God, “for Thy name’s sake“, do this, or do that. The larger part of this psalm though is David asking God, for His name’s sake, to absolutely pulverize those who have slandered him. Wouldn’t it have been a shock for David to have encountered Jesus and heard Him say, “David, instead of Me destroying these people, I would like you to just forgive them; love them, turn the other cheek and then ask how you might serve them. And..by the way, I want you to start praying for these people not against them.”?

David was complimented by God as one who had an exceptional heart toward Him. I’m sure with a heart like that, David would eventually have gotten over His desire for personal vindication. I suspect one of the aspects of David’s heart that God loved and approved of was that David presented his own heart to God very honestly and very regularly. This is what I hear God applauding about David. He was a man who lived very presumptuously about God’s favor toward Him.

This psalm reveals at least three motivations in David’s heart. 1) David perceived that his own heart was wounded. He was weak and shaken. 2) David wanted relief from the suffering by way of improved circumstances. 3) He wanted to see and he wanted everyone else to see an outcome in his life that reflected well on God Himself. It seems David is not too different than us really.

We do not know what percentage of David’s heart was running on the “Thy namesake” motivational track, where his concern was exclusively for God’s glory; where he say’s, “and let them know that this is Thy hand; Thou Lord hast done it”. Even though David’s heart was mixed like ours in its motivations, God approved and endorsed it.

What percentage of our hearts are fueled by this motivation? Do we understand our hearts well enough to see that they are divided by many different motives; that we do many things which we tell ourselves are being done “for Thy name’s sake” when they are really being done for “our name’s sake”? Even if we could discern our ego’s vested self interest in singing that “special” or preaching that sermon or appearing in this or that light, can we just flip a switch and suddenly be jealous only for God’s glory? Much opportunity to walk through suffering with the Lord, coming to know His heart more intimately, would be squandered if we could.

In another psalm the writer places this petition before God, “Unite my heart to sing Thy praise“. It seems this writer understood his heart’s duplicitous motivation and was crying out for purification and refinement in the deepest part of himself. It is in this space where motivations reside. It is in this place that Jesus either becomes Lord or just a consultant on an as-needed basis. I think the idea of Jesus being just a post-conversion consultant to us is a tragic and unbiblical affair that will result in tremendous loss to us on that day when we see Him face to face. “Lord, unite my heart to sing Thy praise” is a very sane prayer for a follower of Christ to be praying.

It is unpopular to say this, even among some of my closest friends, but I believe that suffering is one of the things that God uses to refine our heart’s motivations. I believe if we will process suffering in the Lord’s presence, we will not only come to know Him more intimately, but when we ultimately stand before Him, a greater portion of our hearts will be found, there in the light of His glory, to have been united – operating out of that sincere desire to see His name exalted and honored, above our own, in earth and in heaven. Is this line of thinking a part of what it means to you to call Jesus Christ your Lord? Is Jesus Savior and Lord to us or is He Savior and consultant in our perceived needs?

Father, help us to cooperate as you unite our hearts; retrieving them from all the things we have given them over to; our reputations, our success; our ambition, our need for approval, our own comfort – our own glory. Unite our hearts to sing Your praise so that the predominant motivation within us really is all about “Thy name’s sake“. Amen.

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