Help Me For The Glory Of Your Name

God of our salvation, help us — for the glory of Your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins, because of Your name.

Psalm 79:9 (HCSB)

November 29, 2014

Help Me for the Glory of Your Name

When you hear someone ask for God’s help, it is usually for personal selfish reasons. Any number of prayer requests come with the disclaimer “help me.” These selfish reasons are not wrong because they are usually attached to needs: food, water, provision, protection, deliverance.

Yet many times, the purpose of these prayers is for my benefit or my gain. I usually don’t think of God and His needs. The reason is because I am taught that He has no needs. God doesn’t need for me to pray for Him. God need me to promote Him.

The only reason I would even try to pray for God is because other people are watching God help me. But it is not like I am praying for God to get help. It is not like I pray: God if you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours.

However, other people are watching what happens to my prayers. If they get answered, then people are going to ask why. “Why does God answer your prayers?” That is when God’s glory can shine.

That is what the psalmist means here. When God helps me, there is an opportunity for God’s glory to be shared. I speak God’s name in association with the answer to my prayers of help. God then gets glory for His actions.

It is not selfish to ask help from God if He later gets the glory when I speak His name.

Prayer: God, I want to speak your name when you help me so that Your Name gets more glory. Help me do that.