Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path. Psalm 119:105
Psalm 91
Psalm 91:14 “Because he loves me,” says the LORD, “I will rescue him; I will protect him for he acknowledges my name.” NIV.
One of the most frustrating conversations consists of someone concluding, “If you don’t know what the issue is, I’m not going to tell you.” Having been at the receiving end of such a comment I have felt genuine confusion. The reality is I need the other person’s help to see what I have missed. Blind spots are exactly this – actions or attitude I cannot see and therefore do not know unless someone tells me. For example, how much better to say something like, “When you interrupt me, I feel dismissed and disregarded. Could you please listen to what I have to say.” With that I can understand how my behavior affects another and take appropriate actions to improve.
Isn’t it beneficial that through His scriptures, God clearly tells us what He expects from us. We are not left to guess or muddle around by trial and error to find what pleases Him. In this verse God, through His inspired servant, tells us one of the ways in which we can express our love. God promises to protect us because we acknowledge His name. This is not some magic word or phrase, but to claim a relationship with God. We do this when we accept the name Christian, which means little Christ. So, to acknowledge the name of God is to claim allegiance and loyalty to the holder of that name.
When I was deciding on a seminary to attend, I narrowed the choice to Westminster in Philadelphia and Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois. One of the factors in selecting the Illinois seminary was that my father was a recent graduate from Westminster. Since I attended the Bible college where he taught, I wanted to make a name for myself and go to a school where he was unknown. In the subsequent years I have come to value my father’s name and am deeply grateful for his legacy to me.
In a far greater way, I value my identification with my Savior, whose love is immeasurable and who provides me with life and purpose in serving Him.
As people saw the Father in Jesus, may Jesus so abide in me daily that people see Jesus in me. Amen.
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