1 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks:
for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare.
2 When I shall receive the congregation
I will judge uprightly.
3 The earth and all the inhabitants thereof are dissolved:
I bear up the pillars of it. Selah.
4 I said unto the fools, Deal not foolishly:
and to the wicked, Lift not up the horn:
5 Lift not up your horn on high:
speak not with a stiff neck.
6 For promotion cometh neither from the east,
nor from the west, nor from the south.
7 But God is the judge:
he putteth down one, and setteth up another.
8 For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup, and the wine is red;
it is full of mixture; and he poureth out of the same:
but the dregs thereof, all the wicked of the earth shall wring them out, and drink them.
9 But I will declare for ever;
I will sing praises to the God of Jacob.
10 All the horns of the wicked also will I cut off;
but the horns of the righteous shall be exalted.
Comments by Joan Boney
The primary goal of man on this earth in his own thinking is to gain achievement in the sight of other men. Therefore he sets about to accomplish great things and puts himself in various honors for men to praise him. This is what the flesh of man does.
The degrees of humans differ but the seeking is the same. The woman who is a good cook delights in that which she cooks and receives praise of men. The man who is a good mechanic delights in the work of his own hands and receives praise of men at his degree.
Regardless of the level, all humans seek the praise of other humans in some manner on this earth, making themselves great on this earth in their degree, while causing themselves to be servants to those other humans who have the power to praise them.
These glories man achieves for himself are very fleeting for man dies and is gone and they who remember him and his works die and are gone and in the end who remembers his glories?
We who are of God are shown another way ...
Phil. 2 ... 5 Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:6 Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God:7 But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:8 And being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the
cross.
Jesus obeyed God to the most despicable death of all ... the death on a cross. No death was more shameful than the death on a cross. But Jesus followed God even to that form of death where men could spit at him as HE hung there ... and they could mock HIM as HE hung there ... and they could despise HIM in every way possible.
The path of real glory in the sight of God is very hard ... If they understood a cross, I doubt they would choose to wear a cross about their necks.
The cross is so painful and despicable I don't even like to think of it.
And so it is in our own lives too. The cross does not exalt us nor bring us personal glory in the sight of other humans. The cross, the way of God, causes them to hate us and despise us and separate us from their company just as the cross was in Jesus' case. Usually our cross does not today cause us the physical pain as it did for Jesus although even today it is possible in some nations of men.
Regardless the cross is not something desired by the flesh of man.
But it is the only way of God for us.
Mt. 10... 37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me:and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. 38 And he that taketh not his cross, and followeth after me, is not worthy of me. 39 He that findeth his life shall lose it:and he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it.
Mt. 16 ... 24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me. 25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?