Psalm 75

Three motivations drive Satanic temptation: the lust of the flesh (do what feels good), the lust of the eyes (find happiness in possessions) and the pride of life (aim to be #1).  This Psalm concerns the last one.  In the Garden of Eden the hook was baited with the thought, You can be like God!  They fell for it (Gen. 3:5-6)!  Jesus was tempted to greatness sooner than later by throwing Himself off the top of the temple pinnacle.  He resisted it!  His answer to the easier, quicker path to greatness was, You shall not tempt the Lord your God (Matt. 4:7).

The simple truth of this Psalm undergirds everything the Bible says to us about greatness.  It all has to do with God!  Exaltation and humiliation is from Him.  It doesn’t come from east (lit. the rising of the sun), west (lit. the setting of the sun) or south (lit. the desert).  Rather it is of God.  The boastful wicked will surely drink and drain down the cup of God, from the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God (Rev. 19:15).  And why?  Because in His temple everyone cries “Glory” (Psalm 29:9)!

Jesus both lived and taught the truth of this Psalm.  His humanity was lived in full trust in God who exalts the humble and humbles the exalted.  The Father promised to exalt the Son (Psalm 2:4-6 and many other passages).  Yet the Son was called to the ultimate humiliation of death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:5-8).  But in His suffering He entrusted Himself to God as to a faithful Creator (1 Peter 4:19).  And, at the proper time of God’s choosing (Psa. 75:2) He was highly exalted, given a Name above every name with every knee in the universe bowed before Him (Phil. 2:9-11).  Jesus taught His disciples to live in the same manner.  Rather than the audacity of lording it over others He called us instead to be servants and slaves (Matt. 20:25-28).  The exaltation is left to God!

The temptation to self-exaltation is everywhere.  Today at the Garden Tomb in Jerusalem (where we are currently located) I was asked to prepare communion for one person.  We commonly prepare elements for the Lord’s Table for groups desiring to share together.  But why one person?  The Lord’s Table is a Body of Christ observance.  Even Jesus did not celebrate it alone.  When I arrived with the elements I discovered it was a photo op.  The cameraman was there to record one lady eating the bread and drinking the cup, alone. 

But she was not alone in the Garden today in what appeared to be the search for greatness.  I also struggle with the temptation called the pride of life.  The demonic tendencies of envy and self-seeking (James 3:16) long to wrest control of my thoughts and deeds from the Man from heaven.  How wonderful when, by the grace of God, I am content to sing praises to the God of Jacob (Ps. 75:9). That’s when we have it right: when we live to worship God.  Humble yourself under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you in due season (1 Peter 5:5).