He Knows My Name
"So Hagar named the LORD who spoke to her, "You are the God who sees me," for she said, "Here I have seen one who sees me!" Genesis 16:13
EL ROI...this is the name given to Yaweh by Hagar on her darkest day. The God who watches over me or the God who sees me. Hagar (meaning stranger), was an Eyptian slave girl, owned by Sarai, wife of Abram. It is thought that Sarai may have come to posses Hagar as a means of dowry from Pharaoh. God had promised children to Abram and Sarai, and after some time, when the promise did not seem to be coming to pass, Sarai offered Hagar to Abram in hopes to surrogate a family through her womb. After, Sarai and Abram's disobedience, chaos sets in as is often the case when we get before the Lord in His plans. Hagar, after an altercation with Sarai, flees to the desert and at her lowest point the angel of the Lord comes to her. He calls her by name. "Hagar, Sarai's maid. Where have you come from and where are you going?" He called her by name.
Isaiah 40:26
Lift up your eyes on high, and see who has created these, who brings out their army by number. He calls them all by name. By the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is lacking.
Each of my children were called by another name most of the duration of my pregnancies. John Paul was David Thomas until a couple of days before he was born. Chris Anne was at first called Mary Will, then Annie Elizabeth, until a few months before she came into this world. My late little surprise was James Eli until three or four days after his birth. His father had always wanted a little boy named after him, so when he came into this world so sickly, so helpless, I surprised his father with this gift to the man who for so long had been my rock and this nameless little fellow became Stanley Chris Sheppard II.
So it is with me, there are many names the enemy has called me over the years. Worthless, Cursed, Adulterer, Addicted, Promiscuous, Idolater, Liar, Thief, Unhealthy, Unstable, Murderer, Rejected, Abandoned, Unwanted, Unloved, Suicidal..Sinner. Just a few of the names Satan has used against me at some point and time in my life. Harsh realities of the characteristics of the sins of my past and the enemy of our souls calls us by the name of these sins. He uses people and situations to remind us of these names he, others and sometimes we label ourselves.
For so long, I allowed the accuser to call me by my sin. Until the day, that my father called me by the name He has given me...daughter.
In the Old Testament, when God or His angels called a person by name, it was before a promise was given. After the angel of the Lord called Haggar by name, he gave her the promise that her son would too have a powerful inheritance. That the name of Ishmael would live on and go after him for generations.
After changing Abram and Sarai's name, Jehovah gave them desires of their hearts and the promise made to them in years past. Jacob's name was changed after wrestling through the night with an angel of the Lord and the promises made to him came to fruition. Joseph's name was changed and the years of despair and sorrow were restored to him in unimaginable bounty. Haddasah's name was changed and the entire Jewish race was saved through Esther's obedience to the Lord.
In the New Testament we find that the calling of a name does not coincide with a promise to come, but with the immediate changing of hearts and lives. Just as we no longer need a high priest to come before the throne of God for us, we no longer need a promise of salvation. We have the Holy Spirit who dwells within in us and Jesus our intercessor who not only pleads our case before the Father, but changes us and the promise of salvation is done and assured once we encounter Him.
When Jesus began his earthly ministry, he recruited twelve common men. Men of no circumstance to the world, men who worked predominately among the lowliest professions, who were known only within the gates of their own cities. Yet each one He called by name and many, like Simon He changed their names.
The authors of the New Testament did not hold as much stock in women obviously as much as did the writers of the Old Testament. There are many women that Jesus spoke directly to, yet their names are never mentioned though their stories are so significant. Millions of sermons have been preached the world over about the Samaritan woman at the well. Though we are never told her name, Jesus knew it all along, for he knew everything about her. He even knew the name of her sin, for it was how she was identified among her people. But when she left that well, her "name" would forever be changed among her people because not only was she different, but she brought them back to the one who touched and changed each of their lives as well. Can you just imagine the stories told of her within the city gates after that day? I can see the people gathered around their fires at night, recounting time an again to their children of the once sinful woman who brought them to the man who gave them living water. I can just imagine that with so many husbands and lovers, she had to have had children of her own and those children had to have felt the shame of her sin as well. Can you envision the healing in their hearts as their mother was no longer the same, instead of feeling shame at her name, they would now feel a sense of pride.
Jairus's daughter is never called by name in the story. Though we never know her as anything but this man's daughter, Jesus knew her by name and when he called her from her death slumber, he would have used her name, just as he did with Lazarus. Had he only spoken the words that day and at the tomb, "Talitha Cum" or "come forth", the power in His voice would have brought forth all the dead from their slumber and tombs. Yet he chose to call each by their names, so that only those whom He called would be awakened from the sleep of death. The ultimate change from death to life.
Mary Magdalene, knew the value of a name. As she stood outside the tomb, searching in vain for the body of the one she loved so, I can only imagine that memories flood her mind as the tears flowed freely down her face. She who had once been overwhelmed by demons, whose name once evoked feelings of repulsion from her neighbors, perhaps even her family members, knew the voice of the one who had called her by name. She loved him so, she longed to show him this one last act of her devotion. In the open door of the tomb she stood weeping, when once again she heard her name. “Mary”. Oh the joy she must have felt, for she knew this voice as the one who changed her name from cursed to beloved. Upon hearing his voice one more time she, overjoyed ran to tell of the Savior who once again had called her name.
Oh, how I wish I could convey to you what He did for me when He called my name. He did this just for me. He brought me out of my slumber, out of my complacency, out of death and into life. He change my name, and though my enemies would still try to call me by my old name, though Satan would call me by my sin, my Father has changed my name. He calls me daughter.
There was a point and time over the last three years that I resented the very thought that God had seen everything that was going on in my life, yet chose not to intervene. Many said to me that God had seen this coming and He had allowed it to happen. I choose not to believe this. I choose to see my Father weeping with me over the disobedience of one He has called by name time and time again and wants so desperately to change his name to "son".
You whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its remotest parts And said to you, 'You are My servant, I have chosen you and not rejected you. 10'Do not fear, for I am with you; Do not anxiously look about you, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, surely I will help you, Surely I will uphold you with My righteous right hand.' Isaiah 41:9-10
Tonight the Holy Spirit finally allowed me to work on this piece. I began this writing in November and so much wanted to work on this yet something always threw up a roadblock every time I sat down. Since Thanksgiving there has been only one paragraph. I sat down tonight, after the kids were asleep, with my cup of coffee in hand, a fire burning warmly and brightly in the hearth spilling the only light into the room with the exception of this computer screen, praise music washing over me from the ear buds drowning out all other sounds in the darkness and solitude of the night. Time after time this is my routine as I write. I begin with the prayer, "Holy Spirit, speak through me," and enter into a time of worship.
On this night, just before sitting down to settle in, I read a friend's post. She asked for encouragement and with the words that the Holy Spirit gave me to give to her, the flood gates once again opened on this piece. Isaiah 41:9-10 were the scriptures He gave me for her along with these words. "He knows your name and not only does he hold you in his hand but your name is engraved in His palm. Rest in this assurance, Nothing comes to you that does not sift through the fingers of the hand bearing your name." The very words He gave me for some one else, ministered to me as well.
Not only does He know my name but He has engraved my name on His palm. To engrave is to carve out, to leave an indention. Engraving is a deliberate act, one requiring precision and forethought. Engraving at one point and time, in the not so distant past, was an art performed by master craftsmen, highly valued and costly, affordable to only a select and chosen few. The initial imagine brought to mind when hearing this scripture would be to see your name on a fleshly, disembodied hand in neat and orderly Old English script.
This image is one that would make the hardest of hearts all warm and fuzzy. However, I submit to you that is image is completely false. For you see, within the palm of His hand is not a neat and tidy script with my name in perfect letters for me to see. In that Hand there is but one scar. A scar that represent not just my name, but the names of all humanity, a scar of incredible cost, for which He paid the ultimate price. For the God who sees me will one day call my name for the last time, and on that day I will place my hand in the palm of the hand that holds the scar in the shape of a nail which held Him on a cross, where He bled and died to change my name from sinner to daughter.
Today's video is from my friend Nate Fortner. Nate is an incredible song writer, singer, preacher and is an editor and author. He was nominated as 2014 Male Artist of the Year for Artists Music Guild. This young man has an incredible heart for the Lord and seeing the lost come to Jesus. Be sure to visit his website www.natefortner.com
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