My Boast

Ps. 44:8

In God we have boasted continually, and we will give thanks to Your name forever.

Whether or not to boast in self or God shouldn't be a huge issue, and yet it is. Man's pride is so strong that he constantly thinks he is boast-worthy, but God says specifically what not to boast about.

• Prov. 27:1 Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring. How true! Yet how often do we boast about what will happen tomorrow or what we have planned as we have control over the outcome of even the next minute.
• Jer. 9:23-23 Thus says the Lord, Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom. let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the Lord. These verses pretty much cover the substance of human boasting: wisdom, strength, and riches. All of these things man foolishly thinks that he has achieved on his own merit. Wisdom can disappear in a flash with Alzheimer's, mental illness, or even just faulty information or personal bias. Strength can be even more fleeting with injury, illness, lack of training, foolish decisions or nutrition. One need only look at history to see how fleeting riches are. Even though man is aware of the temporary nature of these things, he still claims ownership of them. And in that ownership comes pride and boasting. So foolish!

But what does God say is worthy of boasting?

• Ps. 34:2 My soul makes it boast in the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. Why? Essentially because it is the Lord who is responsible for wisdom, strength, and riches. It is the Lord who determines the course of the next minute as well as tomorrow. It is the Lord who has planned and purposed every minute of human existence. Not acknowledging His power and purpose is purely foolish!
• I Cor. 1:31 So that, as it written, Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord. The Lord in His gracious love saved me and sanctified me. He will come back for me to take me home with Him. What is more important than my eternal salvation? That should be the substance of my boasting not anything temporal or fleeting.
• II Cor. 12:9 But He said to me, My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. My salvation is through His grace and every moment of my life is through His grace alone. In my own wisdom, strength, or riches, I am nothing. So Paul states the issue clearly. Because all this is true and because His power is perfected in weakness, I will boast in my weakness. Because when I am weak, then I am filled with His grace and His power rests upon me. How glorious is that!
• Gal. 6:14 But far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world. My boast can only be in the cross. It is in the cross that I have my being, my purpose, my meaning, my life, and my existence. It is in the cross that I live in the resurrected power of Jesus.

So what is my boast? Nothing I do, but as the psalmist says, I will give thanks to His name for all that He has blessed me with, the pain, the suffering, the bad times, and the good times. All that He gives me is for my good. He is my boast and can only be my boast!

Father,
Keep me ever aware of Your power and presence in my life. Reveal it to me when I boast in myself.
In Jesus name,
Amen