A Word in Season: Glory in this Jeremiah 9:23-24

In what do you glory? What does that question even mean? Glorying in something means boasting in something, exulting in something.

It's the source of your confident expectation. It's that which you point to in effect and say that is my trust and there is where I can rest.

In Jeremiah 9, 23 and 24, the Lord God speaks words of fearful warning and of sweet encouragement and promise to those who were near to hear when he says let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, let not the mighty man glory in his might, nor let the rich man glory in his riches, but let him who glories glory in this, that he understands and knows me, that I am the

Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth, for in these

I delight, says the Lord. Now we're not all tempted by precisely the same thing, but we're often tempted in exactly the same way.

Not all of us are wise, not all of us are mighty, not all of us are wealthy, but whatever may be our particular circumstances, the tendency is always to look to something or someone other than God in which to glory.

And here you've got the wise man who glories in his wisdom and you see that so often when someone has a little insight, a bit of understanding, they maybe get a track record in making some insightful assessments and judgments, how easy it is then to start relying upon our own understanding.

Or you've got the mighty man who glories in his might. Now that might just be raw physical power, it might be the bully's ability to get what he wants just by force of personality or even force of fist.

It might be somebody who's powerfully persuasive and can bulldoze their way perhaps stubbornly through all opposition.

Or there's the rich man glorying in his riches. He has everything he wants as far as he thinks in his hand.

He has the world's resources at his disposal and that's where he will glory.

And so often we see, even with our own feeble resources, that inclination bubbling up in our heart.

And we may not even be aware of it, but in our souls it's our wisdom, it's our strength, and it's our resources upon which we're tempted to rely.

And God says, don't do that, don't go there, don't rest upon those things, they are no sure foundation.

If you're going to boast, says the Lord, then boast in this, glory in this, make this the confident expression of your expectation that you understand and know me, that I am the

Lord exercising loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the earth, for in these

I delight, says the Lord. Here is something worth boasting about.

And it's not in us you see, it's outside of us, it's in God himself.

We're to glory in this, this is where we rejoice, this is where our confidence lies, that we know and understand

God. And that understanding, that's a more intellectual or accurate apprehension of the truth about God.

It's a true knowledge of him as he is, but with that there's this knowledge, understanding and knowledge.

And the knowledge here is more experimental, to use an old word.

Experiential is often used today. It's the knowledge of affection and communion and closeness.

It's the language of real relationship. And that's worth boasting in, not just that you know about God from afar, but the

God about whom you know true things has become your God, that I am the

Lord. It's an understanding of his glorious identity, exercising, actually carrying out loving kindness, his faithful mercies, his righteous judgments, his absolute moral integrity.

These are the things in which God delights. Now do you know him?

Do you understand who he is and have you entered into a relationship with him, trusting in his name, coming to him through Jesus Christ?

What are you boasting in? What are you relying upon? What is your confident expectation?

Don't let it be your wisdom, your might, your riches. Those will fail you.