God knows your name

Isaiah 43:1-7

When God speaks do you listen?  I hope so, and if you are a listener Isaiah chapter 43 is going to fill you with joy beyond human understanding, no matter what stage of life you are in.  Now be still, turn off the noise, and allow the Spirit of God to fill you with these words from God.  “But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel:  “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.  When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you.  For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.  I give Egypt as your ransom, Cush and Seba in exchange for you.  Because you are precious in my eyes, and honored, and I love you, I give men in return for you, peoples in exchange for your life.  Fear not, for I am with you; I will bring your offspring from the east, and from the west I will gather you.  I will say to the north, Give up, and to the south, Do not withhold; bring my sons from afar and my daughters from the end of the earth, everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.”

How often in our busy life we forget God knows our name, God is very familiar with every aspect of our life.  I have a sign on my back porch that reads: “Smile you Rascal, God knows all about you and loves you anyway.”  God called Jeremiah to be His prophet when the people of Jerusalem went into exile, and this is what God said to him; “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”  (Jeremiah 1:5)  And we have these words from Jesus in John 10:3, “To him the gatekeeper opens. The sheep hear his voice, and he calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.”  Calling one by name shows a high level of familiarity, as a follower of Christ, He knows your name.  And in that God changed the name of Jacob to Israel, God wants the people to understand He will be the one leading them, He will be their soon deliverer.

God is making it clear no matter the obstacle water, river or fire, God is bigger than the situation, and so “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”  God is also making it clear to Israel they are valued more than Egypt, Cush, or Seba, they are a chosen people, and so are we who are in Christ.  Peter, the apostle of Jesus Christ, had this to say about our value to the Father; “But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (1 Peter 2:9)   

Many a follower of Christ does not “feel” like a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, but it not about feel so get over it and act like who you are in Christ. Verse ten goes on to tell us the following: Once you were not a people, but now you are God’s people; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy.”  So “Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”  God knows your name, and His love is beyond your understanding.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice