Tag: name

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A Name Remembered

Daily Reading

2Samuel 16-18

Daily Thought

Absalom, the son of David, was pretty and proud, and, for a moment, stole the hearts of the people and his father’s crown. “Now in all Israel there was no one so much to be praised for his handsome appearance as Absalom. From the sole of his foot to the crown of his head there was no blemish in him. And when he cut the hair of his head (for at the end of every year he used to cut it; when it was heavy on him, he cut it), he weighed the hair of his head, two hundred shekels by the king’s weight (2Samuel 14:25-26). The custom of royalty was to drench one’s hair in fragrant oils, braiding in gold dust and jewels and piling it high above the head as a crown of glory. Absalom had an abundance of glory on his head. That glory would be his downfall.

“Now Absalom in his lifetime had taken and set up for himself the pillar that is in the King’s Valley, for he said, ‘I have no son to keep my name in remembrance.’ He called the pillar after his own name, and it is called Absalom’s monument to this day” (2Samuel 18:18). Absalom desperately wanted his name remembered, and it is. Mention to a Sunday School class the name Absalom and they will tell you about David’s son, and they will tell you about his his long and beautiful hair, and then they will giggle, because he got it stuck in a tree. “Absalom was riding on his mule, and the mule went under the thick branches of a great oak, and his head caught fast in the oak, and he was suspended between heaven and earth, while the mule that was under him went on” (2Samuel 18:9). 

While he dangled, David’s soldiers discussed what to do until Joab “took three javelins in his hand and thrust them into the heart of Absalom while he was still alive in the oak” (2Samuel 18:14). Thus the crown returned to the rightful king David. Absalom wanted his name remembered, and it is. How it is remembered should have mattered more. 

Daily Prayer

Father God, protect my heart from seeking my own benefit. Whenever I seek my own, it costs somebody something. May I learn to live completely content with the riches I have in You, so that I will be someone who seeks to serve rather than be served.

I have learned love, the highest love, sacrificial giving love, from You. You who knew no sin became sin so that I might be brought into Your family. You delight in me. There is nothing I can add to Your worth or Your wealth. You have no need of my offerings or my sacrifices. All that I am, God, comes from You. I am happiest when I pursue what You have created me to do. Take my desires God and shape them to Your will. You delight in me. I long to delight in You. May I desire You fully forever.

Amen

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The List

Daily Reading

Ruth 1-4

Daily Thought

Genesis 19 reveals the bawdy beginnings of the nation of Moab, “the daughters of Lot became pregnant by their father. The firstborn bore a son and called his name Moab. He is the father of the Moabites to this day” (Genesis 19:36-37). The Moabites became an enemy of Israel and to bring God’s curse against Israel (Numbers 22:6), but instead were themselves cursed by God, “No Moabite may enter the assembly of the Lord. Even to the tenth generation, none of them may enter the assembly of the Lord forever, …because they hired against you Balaam the son of Beor from Pethor of Mesopotamia, to curse you” (Deuteronomy 23:3-4). Yet, God delights in redemption and, thus, the story of Ruth is in God’s Word. Ruth is a Moabite. And Ruth is faithful to God and displays her faithfulness in her most memorable words to her mother-in-law, Naomi, “For where you go I will go, and where you lodge I will lodge. Your people shall be my people, and your God my God” (Ruth 1:16). People follow God when they find someone who follows God. Be that someone.

Central to this story is a person called a kinsman-redeemer. In ancient Israel, the brother of a man who dies childless would marry the widow left behind and father a son to carry on the dead man’s name and care for his family (Deuteronomy 25:5-9). The kinsman-redeemer in our story, however, refused to fulfill his role, because he did not want to put his own inheritance at risk. He wanted to keep it for himself and the children who would take his name, not his brother’s. His name was important to him.

There is a list of names found in Matthew 1, a record of the genealogy of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham. “The List” chronicles the family tree of Joseph, the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus. From the book of Ruth are five people whose names are included in “The List,” Ruth, Boaz, Obed, Jesse, and David. One guy, however, did not make “The List.” The would-be kinsman-redeemer chose, rather, to cling to his wealth, and thus his wealth consumed him. We do not even learn his name.

Daily Prayer

Our God, You are All in All. Your Name, “I Am That I Am,” proclaims who You are. You are Creator, the First and the Last. Simply put, there is nothing more important, more valuable than knowing You. You are most worthy of my attention and praise.

God, my desire is to stay focused on You, to hold loosely all things except You, to seek first Your Kingdom and Your righteousness, to leave my name in Your hands and to hold onto Your Name.

Amen

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One God

Daily Reading

Numbers 1-2

Daily Thought

We count people, as well as we can. “Take a census of all the congregation of the people of Israel, by clans, by fathers’ houses, according to the number of names, every male, head by head” (Numbers 1:2). There are 7,700,000,000 people on this planet, more or less. Best guess is 100 billion people have been born since the dawn of the human race. Approximately 255 babies are born every minute. Right around 18,600,000 birthdays are on February 11.

Fortunately, God doesn’t guess. God does not know more or less, best estimate, approximately, right around, or just about. “Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. But even the hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not, therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows” (Matthew 10:29-31). God knows exactly, by name; God knows you.

P.S., There is exactly one God.

Daily Prayer

God, Your care for me is wonderful and amazing. David wrote in his psalm, “Who am I that You think about me?” And yet You do. The God of the heavens and the earth thinks of me more than I think of him. Forgive me for that. May I walk with you all day every day.

Father, the value that You have placed in me, may I see that value in others. That each person is fearfully and wonderfully made, a work of art by You, my Creator God. Truly, God I love You as I love others, because they are Your workmanship. You have given me faith to believe in You, a certainty of hope for eternity, and You give me love, the greatest of Your gifts. May I give Your love to others.

Amen