“Help us, O God of our salvation for the glory of your name. Deliver us and atone for our sins for your name’s sake.”
– Psalm 79:9
Isn’t that interesting language? Let me say it again, and notice, because it’s basically saying the same thing parallel to one another twice. So, “Help us, O God of our salvation.” Why? What’s the reason? What’s the motivation? “For the glory of your name.” That’s the first part of Psalm 79:9. And then the next part says, “Deliver us and atone for our sins.” In other words, “Help us, O God of our salvation.” Why? What’s the motivation? “For your name’s sake.” For the glory of your name, for your name’s sake, help us, save us, deliver us, atone for our sins. So get the picture here because this is central to understanding one of the major themes of the Bible, in some senses, the major theme of the Bible. God gives grace for God’s glory.
God loves you so much that He has given His son to die on the cross for your rebellion against Him.
This Verse Reminds Us of God’s Love For Us
When God saves us, helps us, delivers us, and atones for our sins, why is He doing that? Because He loves us? Absolutely. God loves us with immeasurable, unimaginable love. He so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will never perish but have everlasting life. God loves you so much that He has given His son to die on the cross for your rebellion against Him. He’s made the way for you to be reconciled to Him. He’s brought you into a relationship with Him for eternal life. Yes, God loves you. God has promised to help you and deliver you and guide you and lead you and do a million other things for you in His word, all by His grace and all for His glory.
God glorifies himself by pouring out love and grace, and mercy on sinners. And you might think, “Well, doesn’t that take away from God’s love for me? If God does this for His own glory, doesn’t that actually seem kind of self-centered of God?” As soon as you ask that question, just think about what you’re asking. Who else should God center around but God? Who else should God glorify but God? If God were to glorify anyone or anything else, He would no longer be the God who is worthy of all glory. This is what it means for Him to be God. And in this way, of course, God is God-centered.
God Glorifies Himself Through Jesus’ Sacrifice
Who else would you rather Him center around you or this or that person or something else? No, of course, God glorifies Himself. And the beauty of this whole picture is realized in a far greater way when we ask the question, “How does God glorify Himself?” And the answer we see is that God glorifies Himself by sending His Son as a substitute sacrifice for sinners that sinners might enjoy and exalt His glory forever and ever, and ever with Him. This is the Gospel, and it is the greatest news in the world. God glorifies Himself by saving sinners and bring them to eternal life with Him in Him.
Psalm 79:9: Giving Praise and Glory to God
So God, we as recipients of your salvation and your help and your deliverance and your atonement for our sins, assuming, oh God, that most all those who are praying right now have trusted in you. If there’s anyone, oh God, who has not put their trust in your grace and your salvation, God, we pray that they would be saved today. That this would be the moment even where they say, “God save me for your glory. Save me from my sins for your glory.”
And God, for all who have experienced your salvation, who experience your help on a daily basis, we praise you. We glorify you, oh God, for your immeasurable, unimaginable, indescribable grace and love and mercy in our lives that we do not deserve. That we could never deserve. And we pray in light of Psalm 79:9, may your grace toward us be to great effect for your glory through us. Glorify your name through our lives and through the grace you give to us. God glorify your name around us. May we live in such a way that people might see your grace in us in a Matthew 5:13-16 kind of way and glorify your name.
Asking God to Help Us Spread His Grace
God, we pray that you would use us to lead other people to experience your grace for your glory. Right around us, far from us, God, we pray for the Thai-Mon people of Myanmar. 4.5 million of them, so few of them followers of Jesus. God, we pray that they would know your grace that you might be glorified among the Thai-Mon of Myanmar. That your grace and your glory might spread in every city where we live and through the churches where we live and through our families.
God, we pray for more grace today. For grace in everything we’re walking through in our lives for your glory through our lives. Help us, oh God, to make this connection Psalm 79:9 makes every single day. More and more grace from you, for more and more glory to you. May that be the story of our lives today and tomorrow and every day into all of eternity. In Jesus’ name, we pray. Amen.
David Platt serves as a pastor in metro Washington, D.C. He is the founder of Radical.
David received his Ph.D. from New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary and is the author of Don’t Hold Back, Radical, Follow Me, Counter Culture, Something Needs to Change, Before You Vote, as well as the multiple volumes of the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary series.
Along with his wife and children, he lives in the Washington, D.C. metro area.
