(REFLECTIONS ON Psalm 115:1-18)

For those that will put their trust in creation, rather than the Creator, in things that creation has created, rather than the Creator Himself, will become like those things that they created. Rather than being like the Creator, being created in the image of God, we who put our trust in creation, will lower ourselves rather than be lifted up to the Father of all creation.

That is why the psalmist writes regarding the manmade idols worshiped in the ancient times that they cannot speak, see, hear, smell, feel, walk, make sound, and “those who make them will become like them.”

We were created in the image of God, and it is the God that created us that calls us to worship Him, as the Creator, and for us to be in relationship with Him raises us up to Him, rather than lower ourselves down to the idols formed from our hands.

1 Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your lovingkindness, because of Your truth.

This is our statement of faith, that we will not worship things below, things beneath us, but rather worship the God above, the things above, and the Creator, rather than His creation. Why would we settle for anything less, for inanimate objects, for imperfect objects, reducing ourselves rather than being lifted up by God?

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, because worshiping the idols that we made with our hands, is an act of self worship, which is bringing down the glory of the Lord and reducing it to that which is lower than God.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, because we realize that anything we could create, anything that the world and creation could offer, is nothing compared to being in the presence of the Creator Himself.

Not to us, O Lord, not to us, because it is the Creator’s Name that should be glorified, because His lovingkindness, this steadfast unchanging love, is available to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. In fact, it is the Lord’s lovingkindness, not giving up on creation, that brought to us His Son, in order to join us with Him in relationship.

The world, our created objects, cannot compare to God’s steadfast and unchanging love, because all other things will come to an end. However, the Lord’s lovingkindness is available to us through Christ and He is unchanging, forever, and everlasting.

Do we want an everlasting love, or limited, selfish, self-serving love? It is this lovingkindness that through time and space gave us the ultimate sacrifice, that is Jesus Christ. That is why not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to Your name give glory.

It is because the everlasting God is also the God of truth, the Creator, the beginning and the end. Why would we settle for anything less, reducing ourselves to limited, dying, broken things? For if we worship the God of creation, the Creator, the God that loves forever, through Jesus Christ, then rather than becoming more like our idols, we will become more and more like Him.

Pastor Michael Lu
Enduring Word Bible Commentary: Psalm 115