Recovery Devotional 351 The Name of God

JMD Devotional 351 Exodus 3:11-15 The Name of God

And Moses said to God, Behold, when I come to the Israelites and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you, and they say to me, What is His name? What shall I say to them? And God said to Moses, I AM WHO I AM and WHAT I AM, and I WILL BE WHAT I WILL BE; and He said, You shall say this to the Israelites: I AM has sent me to you!

God said also to Moses, This shall you say to the Israelites: The Lord, the God of your fathers, of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you! This is My name forever, and by this name I am to be remembered to all generations.

Footnote: [To know the name of God is to witness the manifestation of those attributes and apprehend that character which the name denotes (Exod. 6:3; I Kings 8:33ff.; Ps. 91:14; Isa. 52:6; 64:2; Jer. 16:21) (John D. Davis, A Dictionary of the Bible). God's name is His self-revelation (Charles Ellicott, A Bible Commentary). The name signifies the active presence of the person in the fullness of the revealed character (J.D. Douglas et al., eds., The New Bible Dictionary).]

People spend their lives pursuing what they think they need. For the convenience of having everything in one place, warehouse stores like ‘Builder-Biggie’ and ‘Meglo-Mart’ have emerged to dominate the market place. But you can’t buy everything you need (even on credit!) Camping is a good exercise because it reduces our need list down to life’s basic necessities: food, clothing and shelter; simplicity is refreshing, though some necessity is always overlooked (like insect repellant, sunscreen, Band-Aids, etc.) Human beings are conspicuous members of the animal kingdom in that we enter this world naked, and cannot generate our own covering; but must go outside of ourselves for insulation, survival, protection, identity and dignity. When reduced to our most vulnerable state (of nakedness) we are not so independent, not so powerful, and definitely not complete. Our list of wants and needs are infinite, our power to overcome our deficits is extremely limited: finiteness is humbling. It is a blessing to be stripped of the false and inadequate things that prop us up in this world when that crisis drives us to seek out our greatest need: God. God is the one to take with you whether you are camping or facing the rat race. He is all you need and will ever need, He is all sufficient.

Dear God,

I know that I am regenerate, because I have lost faith in my own resources and have come to the end of my own self-sufficiency, and will accept no substitutes: I am holding out for You and You alone. You are MY God. As Job said, “Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him!” I have come to realize that my Swiss Army knife will not save me, neither its blade nor my intellect can stay sharp enough to cut through life’s mysteries without Your leading me. Life is a battle ground, the Church is under siege, clothe me in Christ Jesus for combat and ministry. I call upon Your name…

Amen

All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by

the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)

Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation

*New International Version (NIV)

Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)

I originally produced these blogs between 2006 and 2007, which were then published in my book, JMD Recovery Devotionals. In 2010, I am sending these out to a few people as I review them and see if my point of view has changed.

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