Turn to me and have mercy on me,
as you always do to those who love your name.
Psalm 119:132
Over and over in the Psalms, as well as the rest of scriptures, the "name of God" or the "name of Christ", is used to describe much more than just a name.
To the writers of scripture, someone's name represented their reputation and character. To pray in then same of Jesus is to pray in such a way that acknowledges and honors the sort of things Christ values and loves. To take God's name in vain is to claim to be one of his people while living and speaking in a way contrary to God's character.
When David writes of loving God's name, he's talking about people who have a deep felt passion for who God is, for everything he represents. I love God's name because I know He can be counted on to always turn toward me and have mercy
My greatest joy in reading the Word is not when a discover a new idea or prove a theological point. It's when I discover something new about the character of God or Christ.
That moment when I discover something fantastic about how God loves or why Jesus makes a certain choice - it's wonderful. It's as though I'm seeing the Lord's face as clearly as if I were in his presence.
And when that moment happens, I can almost see him turning his face toward me and looks straight at me, a twinkle in his eye. It's as if he's giving me a hug and whispering in my ear, "This is me. This is the real me. I see you and and I love you."
No comments:
Post a Comment