Sweet Sisters,
Names are important. Our name tells us and others who we are. Our name separates us from those around us. Our name powerfully influences our emotions and our actions. Our name validates us.
When my twins, Rachel and Lydia, were in the 7th Grade, we attended a lectureship at Pepperdine University. Max Lucado was there presenting lessons on a new book he was in the process of writing called, Six Hours One Friday. Rachel and Lydia happened to run into him on campus when we first arrived. He introduced himself and asked their names. The rest of the time we were there, anytime they would run into Max, he would greet them by name. He even made sure he knew which name went with which girl.
Rachel and Lydia never forgot that. As they grew older and questioned what they heard at church or in Bible Classes, they would still read Max Lucado’s books. He touched their hearts in a powerful way because he knew their names.
My Sweet Sisters, did you know that the great God of the Universe who created the stars of the heavens and knows them each by name also knows your name?
He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name. Psalm 147:4
Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens:
Who created all these?
He who brings out the starry host one by one
and calls forth each of them by name.
Because of his great power and mighty strength,
not one of them is missing. Isaiah 40:26
Isaiah pens some very powerful words in Isaiah 43:1:
But now, this is what the Lord says—
he who created you, Jacob,
he who formed you, Israel:
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you;
I have summoned you by name; you are mine.
As you read these words, I want you to substitute your name where Isaiah writes the names “Jacob” and “Israel”.
The first thing we learn in this verse is that God formed us. There are many passages in the Bible that tells us that God specifically formed us in our mother’s womb. Here are three:
Psalm 139:13
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Jeremiah 1:5
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
before you were born I set you apart;
I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Job 33:4
The Spirit of God has made me;
the breath of the Almighty gives me life.
We learn three more important concepts in Isaiah 43:
1) WE ARE REDEEMED – Redeemed means that God paid the price to make us pure in His eye. We were being held captive and He paid the price for our freedom.
2) WE ARE SUMMONED BY NAME – The word summoned means, “authoritatively or urgently called to be present, to do something specified.” God has a plan for our lives.
3). WE ARE HIS – How awesome is that? God wants us to know that we belong to Him. I love that! The God of creation is saying, “I made you and you are mine.”
In Isaiah 49:14-16, Zion (Israel) thinks God has forgotten them. God reassures them in verse sixteen that not only has He not forgotten them, but He has engraved their names on the palm of His Hand. The same concept applies to us. The names of God’s children are engraved (permanently) on His Hand.
But Zion said, “The Lord has forsaken me,
the Lord has forgotten me.”
15
“Can a mother forget the baby at her breast
and have no compassion on the child she has borne?
Though she may forget,
I will not forget you!
16
See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands;
your walls are ever before me.
Going back to Isaiah 43, Isaiah goes on to tell us that because we are redeemed, summoned, and belonging to God, that God will always be with us.
Isaiah 43:2-3
When you pass through the waters,
I will be with you;
and when you pass through the rivers,
they will not sweep over you.
When you walk through the fire,
you will not be burned;
the flames will not set you ablaze.
3
For I am the Lord your God,
the Holy One of Israel, your Savior;
I give Egypt for your ransom,
Cush and Seba in your stead.
I don’t think these verses are meant to be taken literally. I think the message here is that no matter what we face, because God is with us, we will not be destroyed.
We see the same message written by Paul in Romans 8:31-39 where Paul says that there is absolutely nothing that can separate us from the love of God.
I would like to take you to one more place in the Bible that shows that God knows us by name. It is in Revelation 3:5. In the letter to Sardis, John tells the ones that have remained faithful that they will walk with God (verse 4). In verse five he says:
The one who is victorious will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out the name of that person from the book of life, but will acknowledge that name before my Father and his angels.
Sweet Sisters, Jesus promises us that if we have made Him Lord of our lives and stay faithful to Him that He has written our name in the Book of Life and He will never blot it out. In fact, He will acknowledge our name before His Father and the angels. In other words, He will say, “This name is mine.”
In a crazy broken world full of crazy broken people, I think it is important that we feel like people know our name. I also think that sometimes we forget that everyone has a name. The homeless person panhandling on the corner has a name. The elderly person in the nursing home sitting in the wheelchair, confused and lost as to what is going on has a name. The cashier at the store has a name. The people we come in contact with everyday in good ways and bad, all have names. God knows all their names. Each of them are important to Him. He desires to be in a relationship with all of them.
Sweet Sisters, God knows your name and He loves you and will never leave you.
I would like to encourage you, as you follow God and strive to be like Him, that you reach out to those around you, call them by name (you may have to find out what their name is) and let them know they are loved.
Debbie