Humility vs. Glory

This is merely an expression of my thoughts, I write this so that I can organize what is jumbled up in my head. I don't claim to know anything, I am just trying to sort this out for myself in writing this. I have no idea what I am talking about, if any of this is correct or insight for anyone, it has absolutely nothing to do with me. I'm just thinking through some of what I think God is trying to teach me and this is simply me chronicling it.

Quick thought. Today in my BY-FAR favorite class that I have been in yet at Davidson, Sunni and Shiite Islam, (absolutely no sarcasm intended), we were watching a video on the military conquest of the early Muslim community and I thought back to the military pursuits of the Jews in the early Old Testament through which I have been reading of late.

God chose His people to glorify Himself right? Sounds pretty conceited. However, when I thought about it and compared it to what I was watching in the video, the military aims of the Jews were largely defensive. Sure there have been many military conquests in "God's name" over the years (the crusades come to mind), but I am only referring to the military pursuits in the Bible where God spoke to the King/Judge/Leader of the Hebrew community (often through a prophet, High Priest, or in David, Solomon, Samson, and various others' case, selective indwelling of the Holy Spirit) was told by God to fight or not to fight.

God defended His glory by defending His people. People saw the early success of the Muslim military conquests as proof of the reality of the Quranic God (don't judge me for capitalizing, I don't know the official rules on when and when not to capitalize, I'm sure it's in a Baptist/Sanhedrin/Catholic manuscript somewhere :), I only kid). I thought, what does that say about the God of the Bible, the God I believe in, when the Hebrew military pursuits were unsuccessful, and then it hit me. God has his hand in every single victory AND loss of the Jewish community. And the Bible attests to this in every case. And I've always wondered, if we are made in God's image and God calls us to humility (in the Bible), how can God be humble if they ultimate aim of all His actions, including the cross, are to exalt his glory.

"The cross is not a display of the finite worth of man, the cross is a display of the infinite worth of God. Not how valuable we are, but how valuable God is." -David Platt

What humility to allow His people to fail militarily when they did not obey His law that He made our best interest and reflection of His glory! God is a humble God.

I cannot understand the concept between glory with humility because I am a finite human that sees glory going against what God calls us to in humility, but this is the closest I can get. God WILLED His people to fail so many times in the O.T. because allowing His people to remain in rejection of His law was against his nature. God so perfectly intertwines the two in being willing to accept the consequences of the disobedience of His people when they reject the law which He made for our best interest.

Wow. Absolutely blown away. No words. Praise Him.