Ascribe to the LORD

Ascribe to the LORD, O heavenly beings, ascribe to the LORD glory and strength

Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of holiness.

Psalm 29:1-2 (ESV)

The word ascribe, yahab in Hebrew, means to give or place. We don’t give God the attributes of glory and strength, for they belong to Him. We must be careful in making statements such as “We want to bring glory to you, Lord” because he is already glorious and would be glorious if there were no humans on the Earth. In addition, there is certainly nothing glorious about us even as believers. For God’s redeemed people, to ascribe to the LORD means we live, speak, and testify to the truth about God. Verse two says we ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. A person can only ascribe glory to God in this way after believing in the glorious work of the Jesus Christ to redeem their souls from slavery to sin, to cleanse the sinner’s conscience from dead works to serve the living God. When believers speak about Jesus to the lost or to encourage believers, when we submit to the Word of God and its instruction, when we deny ourselves daily in love and service of our Master, we ascribe glory to God. He is glorious to us, He is our strength, among many other things – and our lives are to represent that!

I chose this text because it describes the Super Bowl Outreach. Our desire was to point men and women to the King of Glory, the Lord Jesus Christ, and the salvation from the wrath of God only found in trusting in his finished work of redemption. I have never been around so many people consumed with spreading the fame of Jesus Christ, passionately proclaiming life-giving truth to the spiritually dead. Many prayers were offered up that we would be shattered by the Holy Spirit, constantly reminded of our own frailties and sinful tendencies, and simply conduct our lives worthy of the gospel that has set us free. You can believe our gracious God answered our prayers! The teaching we received fed our thirsty souls. Praise the Lord (Psalm 150)!