KNOW HIS NAME

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Lord, my strength and my fortress, my refuge in time of distress, to you the nations will come from the ends of the earth and say, ‘Our ancestors possessed nothing but false gods, Do people make their own gods? Yes, but they are not gods!’”

“Therefore I will teach them—this time I will teach them My power and might. Then they will know that My name is the Lord.”

Jeremiah 16:19-21

This ends today’s reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

Do you know the Lord?

Seriously, do you really know Him by name?

The question might seem silly on the surface. Most people might even scoff that I would have the audacity to even pose such a question but it needs to be asked because most people say they know the Lord by name but their actions tell a different story.

Let me explain by first going back to the days of the prophet Jeremiah and the lifestyle of the Israelites, the people that God proclaimed as His own.

As we look at the verses found at the end of Jeremiah 16, we find that Jeremiah speaks first followed by words from God Himself. Here’s what we discover about God along the way:

1. He is our strength and fortress, our refuge in times of distress.

When Jeremiah found himself in times of trouble, he knew he could call on the name of the Lord and the Lord would be there for him, providing him deliverance and rescue as well as strength to persevere through difficulty and hardship.

2. All the nations come from the ends of the earth to seek His counsel.

If the nations wanted to gain true wisdom and direction, they could find it only by calling on the name of the Lord.

3. He is the only God.

The Israelites’ ancestors had worshipped false gods, gods that were lifeless and powerless, gods that were fabricated by people. Those gods were not gods at all. There was only one god and He bore the name, “God”.

4. He possesses infinite power and might.

No matter how much power is vested in an individual or a collective of people, it will never measure up to the power and might of God. He has no rival and will triumph over anyone or anything that attempts to challenge Him.

The Israelites claimed they knew the Lord but they really didn’t. If they had, then they would never have resorted to such blatant sinfulness in His sight, disregarding and disrespecting Him in the worse way possible, actions that almost dared God to send His judgment upon them.

No one who truly knows the Lord by name would even consider such a thing. And yet, when we look at lives today (and maybe I am touching a nerve because I may be referring to the way you are living), so many people are saying one thing, claiming that they know the Lord, when their behavior is saying something completely different.

In order to get the attention of the Israelites, God resolved to send His judgment against them to show them who He truly was since they obviously didn’t know themselves.

Is He going to have to do the same with us today?

Let’s do ourselves all a favor and seek every day to grow ever more in our relationship with God so that we know Him by name and as intimately as He knows us.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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