Names of God | Grandma's Ramblings

One of the most beautiful worship songs I know. Close your eyes and invite Jesus’ presence to fill your heart.

DISCLAIMER: I am not advocating for either candidate. How you vote is strictly your privilege as an American and I do not desire to try to influence anyone in any direction. But as one who loves the Lord and hates it when I hear someone say “Jesus Christ” as a swear word, I can’t stop from speaking out. I want to tell them “Please don’t do that. There are plenty of cuss words you can use but don’t invoke my Savior’s name like that.” So it has bothered me all weekend as the name of Jesus has been used, I think, for political purposes and I have to air my pain and, yes, even anger. If as you read this, I offend you, I am sorry.

Growing up in church, I learned the Ten Commandments early in life. One of them said (in the King James language) “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain.”

To me that meant I should not swear or use God’s name as a cuss word. No “God dam” or “Jesus Christ.”

While I still believe the commandment includes that, I realize today there is many ways we can take the name of the Lord in vain. Sadly, I have seen it done more and more in our highly divided political situation.

At a recent political rally some young people tried to interrupt the speaker by yelling “Jesus is Lord.” When the speaker moved on and rejected their calls, immediately the speaker was accused of being against Jesus.

When we say “Jesus is Lord” our motive should be one of praising Jesus and trying to bring glory to His name. It should never be to cause confusion or division. You would not go into a Hindu temple or a Jewish synagogue and cry that. You would understand they would not agree with you, and you would only cause a problem for everyone. It would not bring glory to Jesus.

So, in a crowd where someone is trying to speak on political issues it is not the place to interrupt with what is not really a praise to Jesus, but rather a disruptive tactic.

Jesus is Lord and should be praised, but his name should never be used as a political tool.

When we call ourselves “Christian” we are also taking on the name of the Lord. We are saying we are part of Jesus’ family. If our actions do not reflect the goodness of God, we are taking his name in vain.

As a young girl sometimes when my siblings and I would go to an event, my father would say, “Don’t do anything that would discredit the family name.” He was teasing us as he did not think we would do that, but still, it did make us stop and think about our actions.

My prayer is that I will live in a way that I never bring discredit to the family name of Jesus Christ. And I pray that we will not allow his name to be used for political gain.

Many who study the Bible never really look at the Old Testament and the truths of the Tabernacle found there. But much of the Bible is revealed in a study of the Tabernacle.

More than 50 chapters are devoted to the details of the Tabernacle.
In Exodus chapters 25-40 give guidance on the construction of the Tabernacle.
Leviticus contains 18 chapters on the function of the Tabernacle.
Deuteronomy has 2 chapters on the Tabernacle.
Hebrews shares a New Testament commentary on the Tabernacle in 4 chapters.
Revelation gives images of the Tabernacle (Temple) in heaven.

The people were told that the purpose of the Tabernacle in the Old Testament was so God could dwell with them.

“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” Exodus 25:8

We see in Revelation that God’s desire is still to dwell among us.

“Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God.” Revelation 21:3

John tells us in his first chapter that “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us.” The Greek word translated “dwelt among us” literally means “tabernacled.” “sojourned” among us. Jesus was the “tabernacle” the dwelling place of God among us while He was on earth.

We know that was the point of the birth, death and resurrection of Jesus – to make us able to have a relationship with God.

“Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” Hebrews 4:14-16

As we look at the Tabernacle, we notice that there was only one gate – only one way to enter.

This clearly points to Jesus:

“Yes, I am the gate. Those who come in through me will be saved. They will come and go freely and will find good pastures.” John 10:9

“I am the way, the truth and the life. No man comes to the Father by through me.” John 14:6

I AM – Jesus used these words several times in the Gospels. In Matthew 22:32 He basically quotes Exodus 3:6.

‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. So he is the God of the living, not the dead.” Matthew 22:32

“‘I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ When Moses heard this, he covered his face because he was afraid to look at God.” Exodus 3:6

Later Jesus made it plan that he was calling Himself God. The people recognized His claim because they tried to stone Him for blasphemy.

“The people said, “You aren’t even fifty years old. How can you say you have seen Abraham?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, before Abraham was even born, I am! At that point they picked up stones to throw at him. But Jesus was hidden from them and left the Temple.” John 8:57-59

THE WAY– Jesus did not say I am “a” way. He said He was “the” way. In today’s culture, I know it is not politically correct to say there is only one way. A person can reject Christianity, but if they accept the Bible, they have to accept the claims of Jesus.

THE TRUTH – Again Jesus used the definite article to that He is the only truth. Jesus demonstrated this on HIs Sermon on the Mount. He pointed out different commandments they had and then said “but I say unto you” placing His truth above what the culture of the day said.

THE LIFE – Strange in a way that as Jesus is talking about his death, He claims to be “the” source of life. He claimed because He lived, we would too.

“Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live.” John 14:19

He claimed He was giving us abundant life.

“I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

As a follower of Jesus I believe He was promising eternal life after this life. But more than that, I believe He was promising a real life of freedom from condemnation, of joy even in difficult times. Abundant life consists of abundance of love, joy, peace, and the rest of the fruits of the Spirit found in Galatians 5.

In following Jesus I have found true joy. I love this picture of Jesus! To me, this is how I picture Him.

In the book of Genesis when the Lord spoke to Moses out of the burning bush instructing him to go to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of bondage, Moses asked his name. The reply was “I am that I am.”

The Hebrew words are ehyeh asher ehyeh. Many Bible scholars believe this could be translated “I will be what I will be” or “I will become whatsoever I may become.”

This phrase could be considered an idiom, an expression whose meaning cannot be understood by the individual words. Like “It’s raining cats and dogs” or “it costs an arm and a leg.”

So what was God saying by calling Himself “I AM

I think to Moses he was saying that He would be whatever Moses and the Israelites would need as He led them to freedom. To us today the great “I AM” tells us He is faithful and will be whatever we need in any and every situation we face.

With that in mind my list today is of the “I AM” Jesus spoke while on earth.

I am the Bread of Life.
I am the Light of the World.
I am the Gate for the Sheep.
I am the Good Shepherd
I am the Resurrection and the Life.
I am the Way and the Truth and the life.
I am the True Vine.
Before Abraham was, I am.

This week, I encourage you to think about these things Jesus claimed to be. What do they mean to you that he is the bread of life, light of the world, etc.?

https://youtu.be/n4XWfwLHeLM

In our worship today we sang about the Lion and the Lamb. Those two terms are often used in Christian circles to describe Jesus. But what a contrast!

Think of a lion. The mighty king of the jungle.

He is big, he has a tremendous roar. He symbolizes power and strength. Lions have often been used as symbols of royalty. Many of the ancient palaces of kings and temples of pagan gods were decorated with statues of lions.

And these descriptions describe Jesus Christ in His role as king and resurrected Lord.

Old Testament prophets foretold of a coming Messiah who would be king.

Micah told us:

“But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Too little to be among the clans of Judah, From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel His goings forth are from long ago, From the days of eternity.”

Isaiah spoke of Him:

“There will be no end to the increase of His government or of peace, On the throne of David and over his kingdom, To establish it and to uphold it with justice and righteousness From then on and forevermore The zeal of the LORD of hosts will accomplish this.”

Daniel had a vision of this coming king and told us:

“And to Him was given dominion, Glory and a kingdom, That all the peoples, nations and men of every language Might serve Him His dominion is an everlasting dominion Which will not pass away; And His kingdom is one Which will not be destroyed.

Jesus Himself accepted the title of “King” when confronted by Pilate:

“Therefore Pilate said to Him, “So You are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say correctly that I am a king For this I have been born, and for this I have come into the world, to testify to the truth”

But then there is the lamb.

Lambs are considered to be meek animals. They have no sharp teeth, no claws, no physical way to defend themselves. They run from what frightens them and the only protection they have from predators is to band together in large groups for protection. Sheep were one of the earliest animals to be domesticated. Dependent on protection from the shepherd, it is doubtful they could ever survive in the wild.

Yet the Bible often refers to Jesus as a lamb.

Isaiah in describing the coming suffering of the Messiah, described Him as a helpless lamb.

“He was oppressed and He was afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth; He was led as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before its shearers is silent, so He opened not His mouth.”

When John the Baptist declared Jesus to be the one coming to deliver he referred to Him as a lamb.

“The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him, and said, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.”

And Peter spoke of Jesus as the lamb without blemish or spot.

“knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” !

I am so thankful that my Savior is both a lion and a lamb.

Powerful yet meek.

Majestic yet humble.

Calling for justice and righeousness yet standing for grace and mercy.

I’m glad my God is a powerful and mighty God. So glad when I go to Him with my problems, I know I am going to a God that is able. His strength is mine. How often I have called on that strength –

When my father left my mother and me when I was only 14 – He became the source of strength and love I needed to go on with hope.
When my husband was killed in an accident and I was left to raise two little girls, He promised to never leave me and He gave me the wisdom and courage to go on with hope.
When the doctor said my cancer was very advanced and aggressive and there was not much hope I would live long, He assured Him that He would walk with me though this “valley of death” and gave me the determination to fight with all my might this dreadful disease with hope.

I am also glad He is a meek and loving God with mercy and grace.

When I became all stressed out about my future and my aging body, He assured me that just as He has been there for me in the past, He will not leave me now. He understood my worry and concern and did not condemn me for my lack of faith.
In the many times I have allowed my own thoughts and feelings to lead me to gossip, not forgive others, to be disobedient, He has never stopped loving and drawing me back to where I need to be in Him.

It was His love (the lamb) that led Him to the cross – thank God for the Lamb!

It was His power (the lion) that brought Him out of the tomb – thank God for the Lion!

Growing up in a Pentecostal background much emphasis was put on the need to be holy. I was told that God was holy – and I needed to be also.

Well – Scripture does back that up.

In the Old Testament God is called “Qedosh Y’Israel – Holy One of Israel.”

Isaiah uses this term multiple times – I counted 29 times. Perhaps he used this term so much because of his vision of the Holy One. Jeremiah and Ezekiel also used that term as did the Psalmist.

The New Testament affirms that Jesus is holy.

Luke tells us in his Gospel that Gabriel told Mary:

The angel replied, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the baby to be born will be holy, and he will be called the Son of God.

Evil spirits, when confronted with Jesus recognized His holiness as Mark tells us:

Why are you interfering with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!”

And both the Old Testament and the New Testament called for us to be holy also.

Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Tell the whole congregation of Israel: Be holy because I, Yahweh your Elohim, am holy.

Peter reiterated this command to be holy as he reminded us what the God had spoken in the Old Testament:

For the Scriptures say, “You must be holy because I am holy.”

Being holy is an important thing because the writer to Hebrews declared:

Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord.

But, what exactly does it mean to be holy? That has been a subject of debate and study for centuries so I am not going to pretend that I have “the” answer. But I think for too long we have looked at holiness as something we can obtain by our own efforts.

We see it in every denomination as we all have our lists of “do’s” and “do not’s”.

For me a lot of what it meant was all about outward appearances – and most of that was for the women.

Your hair must be long
You cannot wear any makeup
You cannot wear slacks or pants
You cannot wear jewelry

And on and one the list went with what I could not do. Not much was said about what I should do.

I joke now that if I wanted to know if something was a sin I would just ask myself “Would I have fun if I did this?” If the answer was “yes” it was probably a sin. It really was not that bad, but it always gets a laugh.

The big one for my Catholic girlfriends was

You cannot use birth control.

I want to share more in future posts about how I came to realize holiness was more about what was inside of me than outside. I don’t want to give the impression that being holy does not require an effort on our part but I believe (as I will share more in later posts) that holiness shows up on the outside only when it is rooted on the inside.

For now I would love to hear from some of you on this subject of holiness.

What does holiness mean for you? How would you describe it to an unbelieving friend?
What were some of the “rules” you grew up with in your church?

Studying the names of God, I continue to reflect on the name Hagar, the Egyptian Slave of Abraham and Sarah, gave to God in her encounter with Him. It was a moment of great despair and hopelessness for her. Despair and hopelessness until she realized that God saw her and cared about her.

As I continue to think about this concept that God sees us, I continue to be reminded of times in my own life when things seemed hopeless, but then God reminded me that I was not alone, that He saw me and He cared. I shared the first two times in my life – at ages 14 and 33 – when God revealed Himself to me so vividly in The God Who Sees Me – Part 1 and The God Who Sees Me – Part 2

Perhaps the greatest time God showed up for me was when I was fighting for my life in a battle with an aggressive cancer. After a mastectomy, the surgeon apologized to me because he said he had to cut a lot more nerves under my arm than he wanted to, including the main nerve running through my underarm down my side. He had found so many lymph nodes full of cancer and he wanted to make sure he got all of them so he cut away more than he preferred to do. He said I would have more pain than normal, but he felt trying to save my life was more important than inflicting some pain. I totally agreed with him. I wanted to live. If that meant some pain, so be it.

Meeting the cancer doctor for the first time he told me my cancer was a very aggressive type and far advanced. The type of cancer they found would also not respond to any further treatment after chemotherapy and radiation. His first words to me will never be forgotten. He said:

The odds are not in your favor!

After undergoing 16 chemotherapy treatments with three different powerful drugs, I began a radiation treatment which would include 35 sessions radiating not only the chest area where the cancer had been removed, but my underarm, the left side of my neck and the left side of my upper back. Because so many lymph nodes had been cancerous, the doctors wanted to radiate all the lymph nodes in that area of my body to make sure any cancer cells left were destroyed.

Starting the first radiation treatment I was already exhausted from almost nine months of chemotherapy. Several hours on two different days were spent in the radiation department as they worked to set up the computer to deliver the radiation to all four parts of my body. They had to be careful to avoid my heart and my lung as the cancer had been on my left side. Then the day arrived to begin treatment.

As I entered the room where the treatment would be given, I saw a sign on the door “Danger! Radiation!”. The technicians helped me on the table, working to get my body placed in the exact position needed so the radiation rays would reach the right places. They then left the room and the heavy door slammed shut. I lay on the table in a very painful position and watched the big x-ray machine begin to descend toward my chest. Feeling so frightened, I never felt so alone.

As tears ran down my cheeks, I cried out to God telling Him I felt so alone. At that precise moment, the elevator music they had been playing stopped and a song from my childhood came over the sound system.

Yes, Jesus loves me! The Bible tells me so!

The song was so comforting reminding me that I was not alone. When the treatment was finished I thanked the technicians for playing that song. They did not know what I was talking about. The music they were playing was canned music already programmed and that song was not on the program. They also said they did not hear that song.

But I heard it. The God Who Sees Me – the God who saw Hagar – was there. He saw me, heard my cry, He cared.

You have searched me, Lord,
    and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
    you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
    you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
    you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
    and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
    too lofty for me to attain.

Where can I go from your Spirit?
    Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
    if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
    if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
    your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
    and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
    the night will shine like the day,
    for darkness is as light to you.

For you created my inmost being;
    you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
    your works are wonderful,
    I know that full well.
My frame was not hidden from you
    when I was made in the secret place,
    when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.
Your eyes saw my unformed body;
    all the days ordained for me were written in your book
    before one of them came to be.
How precious to me are your thoughts, God!
    How vast is the sum of them!
Were I to count them,
    they would outnumber the grains of sand—
    when I awake, I am still with you.

In our small group Bible Study we have been looking at the names of God in the Bible. One of those names is El-Roi, “the God who sees me.” I wrote about the basis for that name recently in The God Who Sees Me – Part 1.

Reading that story led me to think of times in my life when I experienced that same sense that God had seen me. Times of my own fear or suffering when God ministered to me in a clear way that let me know He saw me. He knew my distress and He gave me assurance that He was with me and would help me in this time of difficulty.

The first time was when I was 14 years old and grieving over the father who walked out on me and my mother and left us to get by the best we could. That story is told in The God Who Sees Me – Part 1

Almost 20 years later, God again assured me that He was the God who sees me. While working at the University of Missouri Extension office in Perryville, Missouri, I anticipated the daily call from my oldest daughter. My two daughters would ride the bus each day from school to our home in the country. Their father who worked the midnight shift would be getting up and waiting to greet them. Although he was always there to meet them, I still had my daughter call me just to let me know they were home and see how their day had gone.

When the phone rang at work, I picked it up happily awaiting my daughter’s voice. But as soon as she began speaking, I knew something terrible had happened, something that would change our lives forever. I will always remember that little girl’s voice saying

Mommy, I think Daddy is dead!

My two daughters – only 6 and 11 – had come home to find their father laying in the driveway underneath our car. He had been working on the muffler and the jack had apparently slipped and crushed him. He had always been very careful when he worked on the car and to this day I do not understand why he raised the car with the jack and did not use anything to stabilize the car or the jack. It was not like him to be so careless. I always remind my family to be careful because it only takes one moment of carelessness to bring disaster.

Hanging onto the phone, I felt my heart would stop! It was hard to believe it was really true but the moments that followed showed me it was true. At 33 I was a widow with two little girls to raise. All kinds of questions flooded my mind.

How would I get through the days, the years to come without my best friend?
How would I help my daughters cope with not only their father’s death but the horror of finding him crushed beneath the car?
How would I be able financially to take care of them with the loss of my husband’s salary?
Who would be there to take care of them when they got home from school since I would be working?
How would I pay for the funeral?
Should we stay in Missouri or move back to be close to family? Could I make it on my own far from family’s support?

On and on the questions raced through my mind as I tried to grasp what had happened. It still seemed like a bad dream. Surely I would wake up soon and be in my own bed with my husband beside me and I would laugh at it all.

But it was not a dream. For the next few days I was numb. Planning the funeral, trying to comfort my daughters, trying to find answers to all those questions, slowly the sense of being in a dream began to leave and reality hit me hard.

Blessed to have family and friends who loved me and supported me, still the time came when everyone went home and back to their lives and I was left with my daughters to face the future alone. This realization came to me the first night after everyone had left. I fixed supper for the three of us and started to place the dishes and silverware on the table for us. Turning from the table to get the food from the stove, I realized I had put four plates and four setting of silverware on the table. With tears streaming down my face, I picked up the extra plate and silverware and returned them to the cabinet. In the future, we would only need three sets of dishes.

I did what I had always done in times of despair. I cried out to the Lord telling Him I did not see how I could make it through the months and years ahead, how alone I felt.

Instantly a verse of scripture came to my mind.

Lo, I am with you always…

While I know in this instance Jesus was speaking to His disciples – and through them to the church, I also realized this scripture had come to my mind by no coincidence. God saw me – this young widow living in the middle of the country – and He cared. He assured me I was not alone and that I would make it because He was with me. He was the “God who sees me.”