Skip to main content

His Name Is Good


I will praise you forever for what you have done; in your name I will hope, for your name is good. I will praise you in the presence of your saints. (Psalm 52:9) 

        Have you ever met someone whose name didn't fit? The name mismatch that comes to my mind wasn't for a person. It was for a dog, and I was responsible. I got a collie puppy, and thought "Lassie, big, bold, courageous, British," so I named him Excalibur. Mind you, I loved Cal, but he was loving, gentle and shy. That's not exactly the image created by the name Excalibur. I'm not sure I was any wiser in naming Grace. Grace seems to me to refer to something calm, fluid, and gentle. She's more likely to have me say, "Oh my goodness, Grace-ious!" with her vast stores of energy and stubbornness. 
        God's names aren't like that. Did you know God has more than one name? Did you know He has more than three or four? God has lots of names. I have a book that discusses many of them (at home.) I started working on a list from memory the other day, thinking ahead for material about which to write. Like ancient Jewish names, each name had a meaning that is true of God. Today's passage has, and doesn't have, a name of God. It says "for your name is good." It doesn't say "for your name is Good," but goodness is one of God's attributes, so we'll come back to that.
        God's name is also good in that He has a good reputation and a reputation for doing good, being effective (good batteries have a charge.) His reputation among the nations was as a God who did mighty things on behalf of Israel, unlike the gods of other nations who tended to not do anything. God gave His people hope. Other gods didn't offer hope, at least not to the commoner. 
            This is one of the reasons we shouldn't take God's name in vain, or use it carelessly. We especially shouldn't use it to curse others or for evil purposes. His name is good.


 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Virgin?

           Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel. (Isaiah 7:14)           This is how the birth of Jesus Christ came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be with child through the Holy Spirit. (Matthew 1:18)           But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, you have found favor with God. You will be with child and give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus. He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give him the throne of his father David, and he will reign over the house of Jacob forever; his kingdom will never end.”            “How will this be,” Mary asked the...
Post a Comment
Read more

Saved?

  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.” (John 10:28-30) “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, “I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’ ” (Matthew 7:21-23) Not at all! Let God be true, and every human being a liar. As it is written: “So that you may be proved right when you speak and prevail when you judge.” (Romans 3:4)   What conclusion do you draw when someone who was raised in a Christian family and church, perhaps even playing a significant role in a chur...
Post a Comment
Read more

Meditations of the Heart

  May these words of my mouth and this meditation of my heart be pleasing in your sight, Lord, my Rock and my Redeemer. (Psalm19:14)           As I started writing this post, I noted that the meditations of my heart are all over the mental landscape, from a hub where eight superhighways come together to a lunar or nuclear landscape. Do you see my error? The moment I read the word meditation , I think about thoughts. But what’s described here is the meditations of our hearts ; our wills.           While the meditations of our minds may be all over the place, the meditations of our wills tend to be a little more stable by the time we are adults. We no longer tend to want to pursue the ten separate careers we did in any given day as children. Part of this is humble acceptance of reality. We come to understand that we can’t do it all. I think another part of it is disappointmen...
Post a Comment
Read more