Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine.”
NL Daily Devotion for Saturday, December 16, 2023
by R. M. Fergus, Clergy Stuff
Names are powerful. Calling someone by name, in the way this passage suggests, implies a level of intimacy—of love, and of recognition of who and what the named one is. We are, each and every one of us, created, redeemed, called, and claimed by God. How beautiful to know that God calls me “Rebekah”—the name my parents gave me, but which ultimately was a gift from God. How beautiful to know that God sees my name as more than a random word that sounds nice, but as the sum total of my identity, my personhood, so that when God calls me by name, God is proclaiming, “I know you. I love you in the entirety of who you are.” Honestly, it gives me goosebumps thinking of my name on God’s lips. And it makes me like my name more than I already did! Know that today and every day, God sees and knows you intimately, and loves you completely.
How do I feel about my name? If I could change it, what would I choose?
