When my grandchildren were learning to talk, I wanted them to learn how to say my name - "Nana". My trick was to hold up a banana (because all babies learn to say "nana" for banana, right?") hoping that they would say "nana" and I could pretend that they actually knew my name. A funny thing happened along the way. My sweet little nephew had seen me perform this trick with my grandkids, so he put two and two together, and decided my name must be, Nana Banana!
I love that name! I love that my nephews still call me Nana Banana sometimes. They know my name.
There's just something special that happens when someone calls me by my name. When someone cares enough to know my name, that makes me feel good.
God knows my name. He knows everything about me.
Psalm 139
O Lord, You have examined my heart and know everything about me.
You know when I sit down or stand up.
You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.
You see me when I travel and when I rest at home.
You know everything I do.
You know what I am going to say even before I say it, Lord.
You go before me and follow me.
You place Your hand of blessing on my head.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me, too great for me to understand!
I can never escape from Your Spirit!
I can never get away from Your presence!
If I go up to heaven, You are there; if I go down to the grave, You are there.
If I ride the wings of the morning, if I dwell by the farthest oceans,
even there Your hand will guide me, and Your strength will support me.
I could ask the darkness to hide me and the light around me to become night—
but even in darkness I cannot hide from You.
To You the night shines as bright as day.
Darkness and light are the same to You.
For You created all the delicate, inner parts of my body
and knit me together in my mother’s womb.
Thank You for making me so wonderfully complex!
Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.
You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion,
as I was woven together in the dark of the womb.
You saw me before I was born.
Every day of my life was recorded in Your book.
Every moment was laid out before a single day had passed.
How precious are Your thoughts about me, O God.
They cannot be numbered!
I can’t even count them; they outnumber the grains of sand!
And when I wake up, You are still with me!
Every time I read Psalm 139 I feel a great sense of being loved by God.
The Creator of the Universe knows my name. He cares about everything that concerns me.
http://youtu.be/CC8puwexBBo - He Knows My Name - Paul Baloche
Isaiah 43
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 Saviour.
John 1:1-14
In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.
There was a man sent from God, whose name was John. He came as a witness, to bear witness about the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness about the light.
The true light, which enlightens everyone, was coming into the world. He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, yet the world did not know him. He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Sometimes, I forget that Jesus was there with the Father, in the Beginning. He was not just sitting on sidelines, watching His Father create the Universe. God tells us that through Him all things were made; without Him nothing was made that has been made. Somehow, I forget the God, the Son, put on flesh and came to earth to live with man so that we could not only be saved through His sacrifice, but so that we could know that He understands what our human existence is like. He knows our struggles and our temptations because He became man and experienced those things, too. He showed us how to live a life that honors the Father.
When I read Psalm 139 I usually think of God the Father creating me, knitting me together in my mother's womb. But Jesus was there actively involved in forming my body. Go back and read Psalm 139 and think about Jesus being Creator God - because He is. When I do that, His sacrifice becomes more awesome, more unimaginable! To think that the Creator of the Universe laid down His rights as God to come to earth, not as a royal King or Ruler over everything, but as a lowly man who didn't even have a place to lay His head. He didn't come as a strikingly handsome man. There was nothing special about His physical appearance. If I were God and decided to come to earth, I think I would make myself beautiful and perfect in appearance - isn't that we all seek after? We all want physical beauty. But Jesus had beauty that came from the inside, from His heart. And people were drawn to Him, not because of His outward beauty. They were drawn to His beautiful spirit, His love and compassion.
Isaiah 53
He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering. Like one from whom men hide their faces He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.
Surely He took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows, yet we considered Him stricken by God, smitten by Him, and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His wounds we are healed.
We all, like sheep, have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.
This is Jesus, my Savior, my Creator, my Advocate. He knows my name. He sees each tear that falls.
He suffered extreme persecution and humiliation and finally, sacrificed His life for me. The LORD God in Psalm 139 died for me. Father God suffered right along with His Son, because what parent would not feel every blow, every nail being driven into his child's hand?
My Creator is also my Savior. He took great pains in forming me to be just who I am. In His eyes I'm perfect. He could have made me any way He wanted. I'm not an accident. He didn't mess up by making me too short or too tall. He made me just like I am for a reason. And He looks upon me, His very special creation and says "it's very good".
I know that God has a very special plan for me, a purpose that He designed since before I was born.
He formed my body and my mind, providing me with every physical and mental tool I will need to accomplish the purpose He has for me. I know I'm His perfect design, even down to the number of hairs on my head - Luke 12:7. So why do I try so hard to be different from how He created me?
My prayer comes from Psalm 8 and part of Psalm 9. David gives the thoughts of my heart beautiful words of praise.
O Lord, our Lord, Your majestic name fills the earth!
Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants to tell of Your strength,
silencing Your enemies and all who oppose You.
When I look at the night sky and see the work of Your fingers—
the moon and the stars You set in place—
what are mere mortals that You should think about them,
human beings that You should care for them?
Yet You made them only a little lower than God
and crowned them with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything You made,
putting all things under their authority—
the flocks and the herds and all the wild animals,
the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea, and everything that swims the ocean currents.
O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
I will praise You with all my heart, O LORD. I will tell of all Your wonders.
I will be glad and rejoice in You; I will sing praise to Your Name, O Most High.
http://youtu.be/tcJXe0fbuWE - Wonderful Maker - Chris Tomlin
No comments:
Post a Comment