This post was last updated on May 16, 2026
Day 41 (Year 2)
Giving Glory to God
“Give glory to the LORD your God, Before He brings darkness And before your feet stumble On the dusky mountains, And while you are hoping for light He makes it into deep darkness, And turns it into gloom.” (Jeremiah 13:16 NASB)
“Then Joshua said to Achan, ‘My son, I implore you, give glory to the LORD, the God of Israel, and give praise to Him; and tell me now what you have done. Do not hide it from me.'” (Joshua 7:19 NASB)
Since God knows all hidden evil, believers should confess their sins to Him and give Him glory. When a person agrees with what God acknowledges—including what He identifies as sin—God is glorified. Aligning with God’s perspective, values, and judgments is submission to His sovereignty and the beginning of walking according to His will. At the same time, when believers turn away from sin according to God’s will, He receives glory, and we will surely receive His forgiveness and blessing. When we recognize certain words or actions as sinful, we understand the harm and distortion those sins bring to ourselves or others, and thus we can turn away from evil.
Today’s first scripture reminds us that everyone longs for light and wants to avoid deep darkness. The key is to “give glory to the Lord.” One English translation renders this as “honor the Lord.” I understand this as acknowledging God in His rightful place and giving Him what He deserves. Truly, those who genuinely believe in Jesus honor Him as Lord, recognize that all things belong to God, and treasure what He treasures. Conversely, unbelievers honor whatever people value most. For instance, in Jeremiah’s time, many people gave glory to the temple and presumed that God’s blessing always rested upon it, while ignoring the very message God was speaking at that time. This shows that believers must not give glory to God’s works, grace, or gifts, but to God Himself alone. Therefore, we must be alert to any deceit and distortion of sinners.
The second scripture refers to Achan’s incident. He disobeyed God’s command and took the things that were cursed. Then, the people of Ai defeated Israel. Giving glory to God is not only about admitting wrongdoing openly before God’s appointed leaders without concealment; it also means changing one’s previous attitude of disobedience. Therefore, while verbally confessing and singing praises to glorify God is good, what matters more is confessing all sins before Him, asking the Lord for help to change, fully submitting to His commands, and accepting His transforming light.
Reflection questions:
1) Do you feel able to align yourself with God’s perspective, values, and judgments, and act according to His will? If you find this difficult, how will you rely on the Lord to overcome it?
2) Has your past confession of sins led you to greater obedience to God’s words and to give glory to Him? If something is lacking, do you still need to confess the sins you know before God?