Focus: Spiritual Gravity (Pt.1)

Text: Ps.3:3

"But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; MY GLORY, and the lifter up of mine head."

A great saint of the past once said that God is looking for men in whose hands God's glory is safe, and he was absolutely right. God wants spiritual giants and godly heavyweights, men whose lofty view of God determine their high value of Him. God will not tolerate people who undermine His authority and trash His glory.

Psalm 3 is ascribed to David. In verse 3, which is our text, he acknowledges God as his glory. He says, "But thou, O LORD, art…my glory…" 'Yod-Hay-Vaw-Hay is My Glory,' David says. His crown is not his glory. His great possessions and regal position are not his glory. He sees nothing fleeting and passing as his glory. YHVH alone is his glory. Glory in Hebrew literally means weight or that which is heavy. Paul talks about "weight of glory," which awaits the believer in the future, and he intimates that it is an incomparable glory. 

Glory is a kind of load, and one requires spiritual gravity to carry God's weight.

God is holy. God is lofty. God is heavy or weighty. God is deep. God is mighty. When He comes into your life, He comes with all that He is and all that He has. Can you carry the weight of God? Do you have the character and attitude? Do you have the capacity and mentality to handle God's glory? How well do you cherish, treasure and honor God? Do you despise holy things? Will God's glory not be tampered with or tarnished in your hands? Do you fear God? God asked Satan, "And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that there is none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil?" (Jb.1:8). Job was a man of integrity, gravity, ability and activity. Again, we read, "In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly… In all this did not Job sin with his lips… for ye have not spoken of me the thing that is right, as my servant Job hath" (Jb.1:22; 2:10; 42:7). In Job's hands God's glory was safe. God entrusted him with His glory and he faithfully kept it.

God is looking for faithful handlers of His glory, not consumers, corrupters, traders or exchangers of it - deceitful handlers of the word of God.

Let us consider Moses, another heavyweight of God. God, speaking to the power-hungry Korah and his gang, said, "With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses" (Num.12:8). See God standing and speaking up for His own Moses, and ready to pounce and destroy anyone who dares disrespect him. He was indeed God's heavyweight. In his hands God's glory was safe. A sad moment occurred though, when out of anger Moses compromised God's glory entrusted to him. God said, "Because ye believed me not, to SANCTIFY ME in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them" (Num.20:12). Moses failed to honor or glorify God in front of the people as they waited for water. Moses smote the rock instead of speak to it.

Let us take a closer look at David. He says, "In God is my salvation and MY GLORY: the rock of my strength, and my refuge, is in God" (Ps.62:7). David finds his glory in God. He says again, "To the end that MY GLORY may sing praise to thee, and not be silent…" (Ps.30:12). David's glory sings praises to God. His glory doesn't make him puff up; rather, it makes him praise God. He says, "O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with MY GLORY" (Ps.108:1). He doesn't feel too big to praise God. Like the 24 elders in the book of Revelation, he lays his royal crown of gold at the feet of Him who sits on the throne and bows in worship before Him. At one time the people said to him, "Thou shalt not go forth: for if we flee away, they will not care for us; neither if half of us die, will they care for us: but now THOU ART WORTH TEN THOUSAND OF US: therefore now it is better that thou succour us out of the city" (2Sam.18:3). That is what I call spiritual gravity! David's people see him as powerful as ten thousand warriors put together. What a heavyweight! At another time, David's men said to him, "Thou shalt go no more out with us to battle, that thou quench not the light of Israel" (2Sam.21:17). David's men see in him 'the light of Israel.' How God longs for us to shine as light!

Paul is yet another man of dignity. He says, "Nor of men sought we glory, neither of you, nor yet of others, when we might have been burdensome, as the apostles of Christ" (1Thes.2:6). Paul is not a vain-glory seeker. His weight is in Christ. He is a man in whose hands God's glory is safe.

God's glory is not for everyone, but only for those who have the right spirit and attitude to accommodate and prize it, and for those who can pay any price to keep it safe.

It seems God was lamenting through the psalmist, "O ye sons of men, how long will ye turn MY GLORY into SHAME? how long will ye LOVE VANITY, and SEEK AFTER LEASING? Selah" (Ps.4:2). People who harbor and honor idols are not worthy of God's glory. Israel followed after idols, and because of that, God "delivered his strength into captivity, and his glory into the enemy's hand" (Ps.78:61). We cannot even begin to imagine how much God values us. He sees us as His strength and glory. May we not prove ourselves as unworthy of His glory! He has made us carriers and reflectors of His glory. Let us be men and women of gravity and dignity in Christ. In Christ dignity is hinged on integrity even as gravity is born out of our deep spiritual maturity.

Finally, let us heed God's warning. He says, "As they were increased, so they sinned against me: therefore will I change their GLORY INTO SHAME" (Hos.4:7). Sin turns glory into shame and disgrace. God says, "As for Ephraim, their glory shall fly away like a bird, from the BIRTH, and from the WOMB, and from the CONCEPTION" (Hos.9:11). Like Ephraim, you shall not be unworthy of God's glory. May we not suffer shame and reproach from the cradle to the grave as a result of God's missing glory in our lives! Amen.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter