Psalm 21:5 English Standard Version (ESV) His glory is great through your salvation; splendor and majesty you bestow on him.

This is a psalm written by King David. It appears that King David is speaking in the third person. If it were not written in the third person it would sound like this,

His glory is great through my salvation; splendor and majesty I bestow on him.

That doesn’t ring true to us who know the third person of the Trinity. It should sound more like this.

His glory is great through God’s salvation of His children; splendor and majesty God bestows on Christ.

From David’s point of view he is the anointed king of Israel speaking about and for the King of Glory. The third person is the only way that makes sense to David. Here we are on this side of the Cross and the third person is the Holy Spirit in us glorifying Christ.

There was another verse in this psalm that struck me as important as it ended with Selah, that musical instruction for a thoughtful pause.

Psalm 21:2 English Standard Version (ESV) You have given him his heart’s desire and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah

Knowing Christ as we do what was the desire of His heart and what did He ask?

“Select for me the bride of Your choosing Father.”

That can be a daunting task given we are God’s chosen. We have to look at what He did since choosing us. He has given us of Himself in the third person to glorify His Son through us.

Proverbs 12:4a English Standard Version (ESV) An excellent wife is the crown of her husband,

The third person indwelling in us makes it possible for us to be that excellent bride.

Luke 10:38-41 English Standard Version (ESV)

Martha and Mary

³⁸ Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things,

Notice carefully that it was Martha that made the invitation. Look at this act in the same way we ask Jesus into our lives. While Jesus was speaking Martha busied herself with playing her role as hostess. This was a role she was brought up to fill, perhaps as the older sister, perhaps as the head of the household.

When we invite Christ into our lives do we seek to play our role as we know it or do we seek to listen and to discover what our Lord has to say? Look to Martha’s question. “Lord do you not care?” About what is irrelevant, Martha is asking the Lord to care about her concerns. Jesus answers truly, as always.

“Martha you are anxious and troubled.”

Break this anxiety down into its component parts. Martha is playing a role and is anxious to serve in the capacity of the responsibilities she learned when growing up in another life. Any failure to perform according to those responsibilities by her own standards will reflect upon her in that role. She is fearful of being judged by standards which her guest, Jesus, has not placed upon her.

We come into this relationship with Jesus with an expectation of what Jesus wants without waiting to hear what Jesus has to say. We are preconditioned to expect according to who we think we are in playing our role set in another life.

Servants wait for orders before following orders.