Something about His name

Today’s scripture:

My mouth shall speak the praise of the Lord, And all flesh shall bless His holy name Forever and ever. (Psalm 145:21 NKJV)

There is something about the Lord’s name that has such authority and holiness to it. It’s a beautiful wonderful name. I have talked to people in my life who throw up such demeaning words and full of hate, but as soon as you mention the name of Jesus, the atmosphere changes! Now that is power in a name!

Just the name of God brings light. People start to get apologetic in their speech and start to list off things that they do right. There is such power and authority in His name that brings much wonder about it.

Lets look at the third of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:7 “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain, for the Lord will not hold him guiltless who takes His name in vain.” – With a name that carries this much power and holiness, we need to treat it as such.

In this day in age there has been such a lack of fear for His name and Jesus Himself. Some may get confused by this phrase “fear of God”. It is not a fear that we tend to think of fear, rather its way of respect. If your on trial in a courtroom facing some very serious charges against you, you don’t just talk to the judge with “hey dude” or “look here man”. No, you say “yes your honor”. You do that out of respect for his position, power and authority over you.

But yet when we talk about our Maker, the creator of the universe we throw his name around like its some slang word or even a condemning word. We need to hold His name with the utmost respect!

“The mouth of the righteous is a well of life, But violence covers the mouth of the wicked.” (Proverbs 10:11) “Let no corrupt word proceed out your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:29) “He who guards his mouth preserves his life, But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.” (Proverbs 13:3)

Take a close look at that last verse (Prov 13:3). “…But he who opens wide his lips shall have destruction.” “Wide his lips”? And destruction of what? Well, wide his lips, I believe means to speak without any regard or respect. And the destruction could come in many ways. If I get into an argument with my wife and I use harsh words or use the Lord's name without respect, I would feel separate from my wife and from God and the destruction would be the time that could have been spent in better ways. I will never get that time again.

It is God’s desire that we don’t get too used to His name that it doesn’t mean much to us. Once we start to loose reverence for His name, we will start to loose reverence for Him and when we loose that we loose the closeness with Him. And the safest place to be in in the center of His will. This commandment isn’t for Him as much as it is meant to protect us!

Reflection:

The mercy found here is to protect us from falling away from Him and for us to not loose our respect for Him. Matthew 1:23 says His name means “God with us”. If God is with us, Satan needs permission from Him to do anything against us. That’s power in a name!

I Challenge you:

Think about what His name means to you. Start off by making a gratitude list of what the Lord has done for you through His loving-kindness. Then, share with someone that love that you have received.

-Doug McGowan