Thought for Today
Genesis 2:19 So out of the ground the Lord God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name.
Psalm 7:17 I will give to the Lord the thanks due to his righteousness, and sing praise to the name of the LORD, the Most High.
Isaiah 43:1 But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.
Matthew 12:21 And in his name the Gentiles will hope."
The devotional this morning in These Days is based on the passage above from Isaiah. As I read and reflected on that devotional, several thoughts ran through my mind. Whether you are a fan of Shakespeare or not, most of you are probably familiar with, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” from the play Romeo and Juliet. Shakespeare implied that the essence of a thing, its intrinsic value, is not based on its name but rather on its substance. Generally, most of us would agree. My automobile is the same mode of transportation irrespective of whether I refer to it as a car, an automobile, a sedan or by its brand name.
There are exceptions, however. I have previously written and many of you have read or heard elsewhere that our ancestors-in-the-faith would not speak or write the holy name of God. In those Old Testament passages above, where our English reads “Lord,” the Hebrew text would show YHWH (in English letters). That is known as the Tetragrammaton, “The Tetragrammaton is the four-letter Hebrew theonym יהוה (transliterated as YHWH or YHVH), the name of God in the Hebrew Bible. The four letters, written and read from right to left (in Hebrew), are yodh, he, waw, and he. The name may be derived from a verb that means "to be", "to exist", "to cause to become", or "to come to pass.” (en.wikipedia.org) When those ancestors encountered those letters in a passage, if reading aloud, they would substitute another Hebrew word, Adonai in its stead. They, and many of their descendants today, believed God’s holy name to be far too holy and powerful to utter aloud. To do so would be disrespectful.
Many ancient societies also believed that names had special power. Sometimes the belief was that invoking names could alter results. Other times, the belief was that knowing someone’s true, real name gave you some sort of power over that person. Even though few in our society believe either of those ideas today, whenever my mother called out my entire, formal name, I knew that something was wrong, usually I was in trouble! So, maybe names do have special powers.
As a Christian and a gentile, I find great truth in those words above from Matthew, “in his name the Gentiles will hope." I also remember the words of the psalmist, “121:1 I lift up my eyes to the hills-- from where will my help come? 2 My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth.” For me, both passages reveal the truth about Jesus, the Christ.
Those who know me probably are not surprised that one other thing in that Isaiah passage caught my attention. “Do not fear” In Greek, μὴ φοβοῦ. Among the very first words I learned in Greek, the words our professor told us each class before our test, “Do not fear.” In the Greek, a negative particle followed by a verb in the present tense, imperative mood, 2nd person singular. A command addressed directly to me, “Do not fear.” Why? Because I am a Christian. I do find my hope in the name of Jesus. I know that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Lord who made heaven and earth.
Does my invoking the name of God or of Jesus release some mystic, magical power? No! Not in any sense other than that it reminds me that “John 3:16 For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.” Any magic is in the love, not the name.
When I lift my eyes to the hill, when I wonder about my help, “when the bee stings, when the dog bites” I always remember that wonderful hymn, Jesus Loves Me. I remember that Jesus does know my name. I don’t need to fear, because of that love, because we ‘talk’ every day . . . often.
Stay safe, do not fear, trust God,
Pastor Ray