What Name?

“And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.” (Isa 12:4 AV)

But which name?  The name occurring in the verse is Jehovah.  It means the self-existing One.  There are many more.  According to Lee Ann Rubsam, there are over 650 Greek and Hebrew names or ways in which God is referred.  Jim Harwell, in his book, The Names of God, states there are over 1,000 of them.  So, which name is Israel, and by extension us, instructed to pray upon?  The answer is simple.  The name we should use it the name that means the most at the time in which we are invoking it.  The name above could be used when we simply wish to acknowledge God as God.  Other names work for different situations.  Recently, I have begun to pray using the different names of God, depending on my request or expression of worship.  I use the name for Self-exiting One, the name that means LORD and Master, and His name that means Almighty God.  There is the name that means God sees me.  Another that means my Beloved.  Many names with many meanings.  Why get stuck on only one or two?

My wife and I have many different names for each other.  Sweetie is the one I use the most.  I rarely use her given name.  It seems too bland.  She uses Honey quite a bit.  But there are other names as well.  If you have ever watched Everybody Loves Raymond, the main character, Raymond does the same thing.  When he enters the back door as he is coming home from work, he calls his wife, Deborah, a different name each time.  Some are a bit humorous.  If one didn’t understand their deep love for one another, they might be offended.  Using different names reflects a deeper understanding and appreciation for the one addressed.  The more names I used to address my wife, the more I am saying that I notice her in different and special ways.  I am saying that I appreciate the complete person that she is.  Using different names keeps us from getting into a rut where our relationship remains stagnate.

The same is true of the LORD.  I have also found that in using different names when speaking to God, reflection on how sincerely I hold that name becomes a challenge.  When I address Him as LORD and Master, do I truly believe that I am completely and humbly surrendered to God, my Creator?  When I address Him as Abba, Father, do I really feel emotionally connected to Him, as that name suggests?  When I address Him as El Shadai, do I truly believe He is capable of all things?  The list goes on and on.  Using the names of God forces us to do two things.  It forces us to know God more thoroughly and intimately.  It also forces us to internalize the attribute or attributes of God expressed by His name.  In using the names of God, we are praying more intelligently and more spiritually.  So, I would encourage the reader to find a book or two that discusses the names of God.  Learn some of them.  As you pray, use them.  It will change the way you pray, grow your faith in Him, and change the person you are.  God will be pleased that your prayer is more intimate and meaningful.  He will delight in your conversation knowing that you took the time to understand Him more deeply than cursory knowledge.

Satisfied With God's Provision

“Forasmuch as this people refuseth the waters of Shiloah that go softly, and rejoice in Rezin and Remaliah’s son;” (Isa 8:6 AV)

Rezin is the King of Syria.  Remaliah’s son is the king of Samaria, or northern Israel.  The waters of Shiloah are the provision for spiritual prosperity found only in Jerusalem.  The proverb means the ten northern tribes preferred a godless king and his friend, a pagan king over the LORD Jehovah found in the Holy City.  The reason given is the nature of the provision versus that which they preferred.  The waters of Shiloah go softly.  There is not tumultuous moving of the water.  It is constant and quiet.  It is not glamourous.  It is not dramatic.  It is subterranean water that goes from the mountains of Zion and surfaces in the city of Jerusalem.  Hezekiah built a series of aqueducts that stand even today.  They were designed to bring water from the mountains, underground, and provide water to a besieged city.  In short, the backslidden people of Israel preferred the complex and verbose provision of the world versus the quiet and unassuming supply God provided.

The word ‘Shiloah’ means sent.  From the understanding of waters sent from the surrounding mountains.  But more directly, sent by God.  It is in our nature to be dissatisfied with that which God sends.  We want bigger and better.  We want what the world has for us.  We want the exciting.  We want the tantalizing.  We want what everyone else has.  We want our flesh to be excited.  We want to take control of things and provide something considered more appealing.  Note also that the waters go softly.  They were not a rushing stream or creek that would erode over time.  The waters of Shiloah were waters that came in measure.  It reminds me of a place in Watkins Glen State Park, Watkins Glen, NY.  It is a beautiful place to take a hike.  The Glen is a mini canyon carved out of solid rock.  One can ascend or descend, viewing remarkable sights.  About half way up the canyon, there is this little have inch pipe protruding from the face of the rock.  Just a pipe.  But out of that pipe flows a constant stream of fresh spring water.  The Park drilled sideways into the rock and taped a natural cistern within the mountain.  This water runs at a specific rate 24/7.  It never increases nor decreases.  Rain doesn’t make it go faster, neither drought slower.  It runs and runs.  The water is amazing.  Kept at roughly 50 degrees all year round, it refreshes all who stop by.

The visitor can enter gift shops and snack shops at the bottom of the Glen.  There you can take out a mortgage for a can of pop or spring water.  Many do.  But why?  Why spend a lot of money?  Why drink all that caffeine and sugar?  Why find a recycle bin to put the empty?  Many who come bring a large water bottle and fill it on the way up and back again on the way down.  Why spend for one can of soda what you could spend for entire case at the local grocer?  It makes no sense.  Why?  Because we are accustomed to the things of this world.  That which God supplies is never good enough.  The world always has a better option.  The thing is, when Assyria came, the ten norther tribes could not defend themselves and Syria fell right along with them.  Isaiah tells us that sixty-five years from the time of this chapter, Israel would fall.  Why?  Because they would not find contentment in what God supplied.  They went after a ‘better’ offer only to find it could not meet their needs.

Encounter The Glory

“Then said I, Woe [is] me! for I am undone; because I [am] a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the LORD of hosts.” (Isa 6:5 AV)

There are different ways we react when confronted with the glory of God.  Here is one of them.  The prophet’s reaction is related to his call.  He was called to be a preacher of warning to Judah.  Isaiah saw the King, the LORD of hosts.  He had a vision of the glory of God.  This moved him to an inter-inspection that left him speechless.  Isaiah knew who he represented.  He knew who called him.  He knew from where his message would come.  Yet it wasn’t until he had an encounter with the glory of God that he truly understood the glory of God.  One wonders how we would be affected if we encountered the same.

One might think this encounter is limited to the Old Testament.  One might think that John’s Revelation is the last time God revealed His glory to a saint.  That would be incorrect.  How do I know?  Easy.  Read the book of Psalms.  David never had a vision as Moses, Isaiah, Paul, or John.  Reading the psalms, one would think that he did.  What David had was a heart and mind that could and would take the time to meditate.  He meditated on the revealed word of God and could extrapolate the glory of God from that which was easily seen.  He could see the stars above and know that the heavens could not contain God.  He could imagine how fearfully and wonderfully he was made, knowing that to an all-knowing God, that wouldn’t be difficult at all.  David could feel the earthquake below his feet, see entire nations fall, and a giant left dead by a single stone.  He could experience all this in the light of a God who is almighty.  David could know his sin intimately, yet be convinced that God forgives all who come to Him in humility and sincerity.  The book of Psalms, mostly by men who had no recorded extra biblical or extra revelation of the glory of God, could understand His glory!

This is a major missing part of our churches today.  We simply do not have the time or care to meditate on the glory of God.  We don’t want to exercise ourselves in the uncomfortable exercise of self-evaluation.  Our hearts are not anchored in repentance, forsaking, and changing.  Our heart’s desire is not cemented in a passion for Christlikeness.  We do not want to meditate on the glory of God because, if we did, we just might respond with the same humility as Isaiah.  As I write this, I am eternally grateful for a God whom I will never understand does not consider it beneath Him to know me.  I am moved by the thought that my Creator, whom I have offended and failed more than I can ever figure, would love me in spite of who and what I am.  I am not saying I have had the experience of Isaiah, Moses, Paul, or John.  What I can say is the more the Holy Spirit teaches me, the more humility can grow.  God is so good to me.  I don’t deserve any of His grace.  Not a drop!  Yet, for the reasons I cannot fully understand, He never gives up!  He loves eternally!  He is my Abba, Father.  He is the Great I Am.  He is the Most High.  He is God Almighty.  He is the LORD and Master.  He is the Creator, the only Wise Potentate, the King of kings and LORD of Lords.  He is my Beloved.  He is my Rock.  He alone is my Fortress and Strength.  He is my Banner, my Strong Tower, and His eyes behold me wherever I might be.  He is my Master Planner.  He is sovereign.  He is unchangeable, unalterable, and unfathomable.  He is God and there is none else!

In That Day

“And the loftiness of man shall be bowed down, and the haughtiness of men shall be made low: and the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day.” (Isa 2:17 AV)

This is the second time this statement appears in as many chapters.  Those to whom Isaiah is referring are both the Gentiles and backslidden Israel.  The day is the day of God’s visitation.  Prophetically, this could mean the return of Jesus Christ or the end of the Millenium.  There seems to be a permanence implied.  However, the immediate context is the coming humiliation upon errant Israel at the hands of the Assyrians and Babylonians.  The day of the LORD is any time in which the LORD comes down and deals with wicked people.  It is a day of judgment for sins committed, of which the people under judgement never confessed nor forsook.  This day of the LORD can be individual, but more often is it used to refer to a particular group.  The day of the LORD for the people of earth is coming.  It may have already begun.

There is some disagreement, but in general, most think the battle just prior to the tribulation period is referred to as the first battle of Gog and Magog.  There are two of these battles.  The first occurs just prior or following the rapture of the New Testament church.  The latter occurs at the end of the Millennial reign of Christ.  A close comparison between the two passages involved will make this abundantly clear.  The first involves ten Gentile nations or kingdoms that rise against Israel.  They wish to destroy Israel from the face of the earth.  One of these nations, and perhaps the spearhead of the other nine, is Iran.  Every time there is a conflict between Israel and Iran, the prophetically informed saint’s ears perk up.  This present conflict included.  I cannot say if this is the start of the organization of the nations who will come against Israel.  But it might be.  If Israel goes to the point of militarily neutralizing Iran, Iran will have no choice but to build a coalition.  If Israel defeats Iran in this present conflict, it will be absolutely clear that no single nation can topple her.  Organization of Gog and Magog may soon come to pass.  The end of that battle is the complete and total defeat of all of Israel’s enemies.  This will set the stage for a Jewish AntiChrist to rise in power.

The seven-year tribulation period will be upon mankind.  That seven-year period, as well as the coming of Christ at the end of it, is referred to as the day of the LORD.  There will be many saved during that seven-year period.  Yet the majority will reject.  Our modern churches do not like to speak of God and Jesus as a condemning Judge.  They do not want to teach of a God who exercised vengeance upon all those who hate Him.  They don’t want to think of a God like that.  God is the Creator!  He has made all things.  Every human soul came to be by His hand!  Therefore, He has every right to demand respect.  God has the right to demand acknowledgement for His gift of life to the soul.  God has every right to demand of that which He has created the responsibility to exist according to His purpose.  The bible calls this worship.  God has given us the ability to choose.  What He has not given is the ability to choose without consequences.  The day of the LORD is coming.  There is no force that can stop it.  The judgment of a righteous and holy God is hastening to a final conclusion with mankind.  I pray that you are ready!

There Is Only One

“My dove, my undefiled is [but] one; she [is] the [only] one of her mother, she [is] the choice [one] of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; [yea], the queens and the concubines, and they praised her.” (So 6:9 AV)

There is a raging debate as to the perfect design of marriage wherein it regards the specific person we are to marry.  We know from chapter eight that the bride has a younger sister.  We also know she has brothers.  So, when the husband says of his wife that she is the only one of her mother, he is not referring to her being and only child.  What he is saying is that she is the only one for him.  There were many to choose from.  But only one is the one that God has for him.  This debate to which I refer is whether God has designed one specific person for another.  I think the above passage is a proof of that.  Thinking of Adam, God only brought one to him.  He did not bring a selection.  He only brought one!  I can attest this to be true in my own life!  God brought to me the only one that would have been a perfect match.  I feel sorry for her that she is stuck with me.  But, hey, I wasn’t in control.

When my wife and I were dating, I had already been through two relationships prior to her.  It was obvious to me these ladies were not for me.  Not that they were flawed.  I just knew they were not for me.  When my wife and I dated, I tried to chase her off.  Not on purpose.  I was fighting the will of God.  Getting married, as much as I wanted to, was not something I wanted to jump into.  At least the closer it got, anyway.  The permanence and maturity of it is what scared me.  That, and my experience up then, was not purely enjoyable.  The ladies I dated prior were infatuated.  Once they got to know me, their connection to me waned.  That was the last thing I wanted.  So, subconsciously, I tested my future wife.  I let her see the ugliest parts of me.  One evening, she passed me a note in the middle of a class which read, “the LORD told me to stick with you anyway.”  Praise the LORD!  That convinced me.  She was not infatuated, and she knew what she was getting.  Going through pre-marital counseling, the preacher probed to see why we thought we needed to marry.  Our answers were the same.  It was God’s will!  Period.

When I conduct pre-marital counseling, the lesson I wrote accomplishes the same thing.  It forces the couple to look deep in themselves and each other to determine whether God has designed one for the other.  Do they compliment one another?  Do they understand the faults of the other? Have they prayed about it and what indication has the LORD given that they should marry?  The reason this is so important is that marriage is hard enough.  Without the assurance that God has put two together as part of His perfect plan, tempts one or the other to look elsewhere.  I believe one reason people get divorced is that they never entered marriage, considering the principle above.  They get married for many reasons.  Love, or lust, being the most often used reasons of them all.  But unless two people completely believe God has made them to be married, complimenting one another throughout life, then there will always be doubt.  God brought only one to Adam.  Solomon wrote his song regarding only one.  Not the other 999 wives and concubines.  There is only one.  There is no other.

I'm No Mechanic

“[When] pride cometh, then cometh shame: but with the lowly [is] wisdom.” (Pr 11:2 AV)

This is another day wherein the LORD wants us to consider pride.  Yesterday, it was prayer.  Because of pride, we are reluctant to go to Him in prayer.  We want to handle it ourselves or we don’t want to seem helpless.  Pride entices us to carry on with God.  Independence encourages us that life can be lived without emotional support or affirmation.  Pride is a great prayer killer.  Above, David mentions another thing that pride can kill.  That is wisdom.  When we refuse to seek help, we often fall in ignorance.  Asking the LORD and others for input, especially when we do not know what we are doing, or entertaining the possibility that we do not know everything, is a manifestation of humility.  In order to gain wisdom, we must be humble enough to know that we need it.

We do this all the time.  We take on more than we can handle and do not ask for help.  It ends in shambles.  We make decisions without considering the opinion of others, and it fails.  We attempt to accomplish something without asking experts what they think and it doesn’t work out well.  Many years ago, I worked on a car that was overheating.  I tried a few little things first.  Then I decided to try to change the thermostat.  I found the thermostat cover and proceeded to unbolt it from the housing.  The first bolt came out just fine.  However, the second one not too much.  I ended up breaking off the head.  So, what do I do now?  I had to use different techniques.  The last resort was to drill out the rusted in bolt.  Not knowing what I was doing, I broke off a drill bit, and easy out, and ended up finally drilling all the way through the housing.  Not good!  The housing was part of something much larger and more important.  Having drilled a hole into something that was supposed to be waterproof, I was stuck.  Had I enlisted the help of someone who knew a thing or two regarding cars, the repair could have been much easier and less expensive.

Pride makes us to stupid things.  Pride keeps us from success.  Pride tells us we can handle it and we know what we are doing.  Pride has a way of leading us down a road that does not end well.  Pride is a horrible thing.  Of all the sins which the Bible deals with, pride has to be near the top.  Pride is what makes man independent of God.  Pride is what keeps us from having a life that the LORD intended for us.  Pride ruins.  Pride destroys.  Pride is the enemy of God’s blessings.  Pride will keep us from the LORD and others.  Pride needs to be conquered.  Pride needs to be abased.  Pride needs to be erased from our hearts.  It is a hard process.  This does not come easy.  But come it must.

Pride Is Not Reserved for the Wicked

“The wicked, through the pride of his countenance, will not seek [after God]: God [is] not in all his thoughts.” (Ps 10:4 AV)

We know that David is speaking of those wicked ones who would seek his life.  Those who hate God and God’s king.  His assessment of his nemesis is right on.  Saul would not seek after God unless it was in his personal best interest.  Saul sought God only when it was too late to do so.  If anyone had a pride problem, it was Saul!   It is pride that makes man independent from God.  It is pride that will not admit to the reality that God is the creator and we are His creation.  Our very existence is from God and by God.  Only the foolish would turn their back on God.  But pride is not limited to the wicked.  Old habits die hard.  The pride that kept us from salvation for a very long time can be the same pride that keeps us from regular prayer.  It is a good thing to be helpless and vulnerable.  I am sure David learned many things while fleeing from Saul.  One thing is certain.  A study of the psalms will show us that David learned to pray!

I think men have a hard time admitting their limitations.  We have a hard time asking for help.  I have a son who would rather die than ask for help.  I is independent to a fault.  In some ways, this was a benefit.  It caused him to overcome adversity, unlike his peers.  His grades came with a lot of work.  I am amazed at his tenacity.  He is a fierce soldier who marches on and will not take a step backward.  Onward and upward.  He has much to overcome in his life and he is a testimony to me of someone who will not let a dark day keep him from advancing.  It takes a lot to knock him down.  Yet, he has a hard time admitting he has limits and needs help.  The LORD has to allow much in his life for that to happen.  My son is a soldier’s soldier.  If anyone whines about life, I can just send him or her to my son and their problems will soon be put into perspective.  For my son to endure takes a strength most of us will never know.  However, there is a danger with that kind of resolve.  Sometimes we are pushed to a limit beyond our ability to endure.  We can come to the end of ourselves.  We get this way because we are too proud to go to God.  We can go one more step.  We can leap one more wall.  We can take one more arrow.  Only when we are completely empty, do we cry ‘Uncle’ and seek the help of the One who could have helped all along.

David’s observation was regarded Saul.  It was regarding all those who hate God.  But those of us who love God can do the same thing.  Our pride can get in the way and we neglect prayer as the relief that we need.  We think we can handle it.  We think that it will be ok.  I am not suggesting we go to prayer and whine about life.  I think God gets a bit tired of that.  Complaints are part of life.  We need to process how we feel.  But it is like a patient who is in such pain that he or she is no longer complaining.  Rather, they are resigned to the pain and are just seeking simple relief.  If you have every helped with a patient, you know exactly what I mean.  Pride keeps us from going to God in prayer.  Pride keeps us independent of the fellowship and help we need in God.  Pride says it can exist alone.  Pride thinks there is nothing it cannot handle or accomplish.  If our prayer life suffers, it is probably because we are not in prayer nearly as much as we should be.