God's Glory

As I was reading through the laws given in Exodus I was thinking again about how God commands His people to utterly destroy the nations that are pitted against His chosen people. One example is in Exodus 23:24 where God says, "You shall not bow down to their gods nor serve them, nor do as they do, but you shall utterly overthrow them and break their pillars in pieces (ESV)." God cares more about His glory than He cares about the comfort of the beings He has created. Many think that this means that God is selfish and mean. No, this means that God is Sovereign Creator. If He were to undermine His own glory then He would capitulate His reign on earth. If that were to happen then I doubt we would be too comfortable with whoever else would rule instead, especially since the true God is good. He is just and merciful. Fortunately, we get to share in His glory through the provision of the atoning work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.