The Significant Name of God (8)
Consequences of knowing and invoking God’s precious Name
André H. Roosma
12 May 2020 (NL original: 16 Dec. 2014)
One of these days I re-read Psalm 91 again. My eye was caught by what is
written in verses 14-15, in connection with Jo’el 2:32 and what I said about
it recently in this series under the title: (6) Salvation
in calling on the Name.1
14 “Because he loves Me
very much, God says, I will deliver him; I will set him on high, because
he knows My Name.”
15 “He shall call on Me, and I will answer
him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor
him.”
The logic here is extremely simple. When we love God and know God’s Name,
we know it is His will or desire to be with us. When His Love has touched
us and we give in to it, there is that relationship and we are assured of
God’s help. In need we do not need to pray elaborate prayers. Calling upon Him
(preferably by His Name: YaHUaH) is sufficient. He will then hear
us and be there. The basis is that we love Him because He first loves
us so dearly. Knowing His Name and calling upon Him – that is,
confessing that He IS and that we find our existence and joy in Him –
is then all we have to do.
This is why I like to read the Psalms – especially those in which
His Name appears, such as this Psalm 91. It already begins so beautifully:
1 “He who dwells in the
shelter of the Most High, shall rest in the protective shadow of the
Almighty.”
2 “I will say to YaHUaH: My Refuge and
my Fortress! my God, in Whom I trust!”
In verse 1, “the Almighty” in Hebrew is
Shaddai. The translation Almighty is related to the
interpretation of Shaddai in conjunction with the verb shadad -
to destroy, to ruin, to ravage, to devastate. But we can also see
Shaddai as the first person, possessive form of shad - chest,
bosom. What a nurturing mother’s breast is to a baby – a loving
source of warmth, peace, thirst-quenching and nourishment – that is
what God wants to be for us too.2 We see those notions of
strength and of safety in the rest of this verse and in verse 2.
And for this reason I also happily carry my Tsitsit, in which His
Name is interwoven. Every day it reminds me of the presence of YaHUaH.
He is there, so He is with us and helps us!
Hallelu YaHUaH !
Notes
| 1 |
The names in the Bible have meaning. That is why I
transliterate them carefully so that they remain recognizable. Especially
the glorious Name of God I represent here as accurately as possible from the
oldest Hebrew original, instead of replacing this grand personal Name of The
Most High by a common word, such as ‘Lord’. For more background
information see:
André H. Roosma, ‘Life, security and belonging in joyful adoration,
from the hand of God’  , brief Hallelu-YaH article about the Biblical Name of God in the earliest
Hebrew (old Semitic) script, January 2011.
André H. Roosma, ‘The Shema‘
– the First Testament declaration of faith (1)’, Hallelu-YaH! web article, February 2012.
André
H. Roosma, ‘The
wonderful and lovely Name of the God Who was there, Who is there, and Who
will be there’ , extensive Accede! / Hallelu-YaH! study, July 2009. |
| 2 |
See also:
part (19) in this series The significant Name of God: What is the meaning of the Name אֵל שַׁדַּי -
’El Shaddai ?, Dutch version: 27 april 2020; English
translation forthcoming. |
|
