For Your Own Good Sign Off As Soli Deo Gloria

Judges 7:2 – The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many men. I cannot deliver Midian into their hands, or Israel would boast against me, ‘My own strength has saved me.’ (NIV)

Judges 7:2  God said to Gideon, “You have too large an army with you. I can’t turn Midian over to them like this—they’ll take all the credit, saying, ‘I did it all myself,’ and forget about me.(Message Bible)

Judges 7:2 The LORD said to Gideon, “You have too many warriors with you. If I let all of you fight the Midianites, the Israelites will boast to me that they saved themselves by their own strength.(New Living Translation)

Judges 7:2 The LORD said, “Gideon, your army is too big. I can’t let you win with this many soldiers. The Israelites would think that they had won the battle all by themselves and that I didn’t have anything to do with it.(Contemporary English Version)

Judges 7:2 The LORD said to Gideon, “The men you have are too many for me to give them victory over the Midianites. They might think that they had won by themselves, and so give me no credit. (Good News Translation)

This is one of the most telling verses in scripture. This verse opens our eyes more than many other Bible verses, so to speak. This verse explains a lot in very few words. Read and think about those inspired words again.

Soli Deo Gloria is a latin phrase that we need to appreciate. Soli is translated as one or alone or only. Deo is translated as God. Gloria is translated as glory. This phrase has therefore been translated as To God Alone Be The Glory, or as To The Only God Be The Glory. I prefer to translate Soli Deo Gloria as To The One and Only God, Alone Be The Glory!

There are other Latin phrases that have defined the faith of the Christian church during reformation as the believers sought to distinguish themselves from the Roman Catholic faith that they were abandoning to the one they were embracing. (1) Sola Scriptura – The Bible and the Bible alone. (2) Sola Fide – By Faith alone. (3) Sola Gratia– By Grace alone. (4) Solus Christus– By Christ alone. (5) Soli Deo Gloria – To God Alone Be The Glory, which I prefer to translate as To The One and Only God, Alone Be The Glory!

Soli Deo Gloria has been used by great artists to deflect glory from themselves to God. It has been the signature of great art work by artists like Johann Sebastian Bach, and George Frideric Handel. They always signed their manuscripts as SDG an abbreviation for Soli Deo Gloria!

In our text today, God tells Gideon that He will not grant them opportunity to be victorious, because as things stand, Israel won’t believe that God helped them. God tells Gideon that He God must have the glory. Therefore Gideon must create circumstances where God and God alone is glorified! The victory must be signed off as Soli Deo Gloria!

Gideon had a huge army ready for war. God had intended to give Gideon and that army victory. God had only one problem, that the size of the army would obscure everyone from seeing that God had granted victory. The victory must be signed off as Soli Deo Gloria!

If as things stand you will be praised for what you are doing, God may not be interested in doing it with you. If at the end of this your experience will be applauded, God may not be interested in doing it with you. If your qualifications will shine after this job, God may not be interested in doing this with you. God and God alone must get the glory! The victory must be signed off as Soli Deo Gloria!

You have read so much for that exam without prayer, and if you pass, you will praise your resilience and reading skills and place God as a negligible footnote. When people come to you for benchmarking, you will make references to your study skills and nothing about your God. Therefore in such a case, God may not be interested to help you excel. The victory must be signed off as Soli Deo Gloria!

This is a business you have prepared for thoroughly. You have done your due diligence. You have addressed all obstacles. You have foreseen the risks and prepared for it. With all these preparations nothing can go wrong. Thanks to your attention to detail and hardworking nature. What about God? If He doesn’t stand out as the sole source of your success, you are on your own. The victory must be signed off as Soli Deo Gloria!

If you are beautiful or handsome and socially perfect in how you interact with people, you may take long to get a life partner and settle down. If you get a life partner and settle down quickly, the credit will not go to God, but to your looks and social skills. You may see people with looks that are otherwise and poor social skills moving quickly and settling down, because for them, glory goes to God. God must be glorified or else He is not in it with us! The victory must be signed off as Soli Deo Gloria!

Daniel 4:30 – he said, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?”

When Nebuchadnezzar claimed all the glory for building the great kingdom of Babylon, God got offended. God kicked him out of kingship for seven years and made him a wild animal. Then after seven years, God restored him to kingship. Nebuchadnezzar eventually acknowledged that God is the secret behind any success. The victory must be signed off as Soli Deo Gloria!

In what you are doing, will it genuinely end as Soli Deo Gloria? In the victory speech you are preparing, will Soli Deo Gloria be one of the points or the only point? Soli Deo Gloria should be the only point! In Jesus’s name, Amen!

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