God-centeredness versus Man-centeredness
Some of you may have no idea why I would post this and why it’s even relevant. If so then don’t bother yourself and read it. But those of you who do this is from John Frame:
The Westminster Shorter Catechism says as its answer to Question 1, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.” (Emphasis mine) So it is possible to have a God-centered view of human experience and subjectivity, a human “focus” that detracts not one bit from a biblical God-centeredness.
Like many Psalms, this song includes lavish use of the first person singular personal pronoun, “I,” “me,” “my—“maybe 75 occurrences. But will anyone claim that this Psalm is anything but God-centered? The God of Scripture is not Moloch. He does not demand human sacrifice as the price of honoring him. Misery is not his goal for us. Rather, he delights in delivering and sanctifying his people. “Focus” is not a zero-sum game, where every bit of attention to God must detract from man and vice versa.
The Westminster Shorter Catechism says as its answer to Question 1, “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy him forever.” (Emphasis mine) So it is possible to have a God-centered view of human experience and subjectivity, a human “focus” that detracts not one bit from a biblical God-centeredness.
1 I love you, O LORD, MY strength. 2 The LORD is MY rock and MY fortress and MY
deliverer, MY God, MY rock, in whom I take refuge, MY shield, and the horn of MY
salvation, MY stronghold. 3 I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies. 4 The cords of death encompassed me; the
torrents of destruction assailed me; 5 the cords of Sheol entangled me; the
snares of death confronted me. 6 In my distress I called upon the LORD; to my
God I cried for help. From his temple he heard my voice, and my cry to him
reached his ears. Psalm 18:1-6
Like many Psalms, this song includes lavish use of the first person singular personal pronoun, “I,” “me,” “my—“maybe 75 occurrences. But will anyone claim that this Psalm is anything but God-centered? The God of Scripture is not Moloch. He does not demand human sacrifice as the price of honoring him. Misery is not his goal for us. Rather, he delights in delivering and sanctifying his people. “Focus” is not a zero-sum game, where every bit of attention to God must detract from man and vice versa.
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