Skip to main content

Jehovah-Shammah


“The distance all around will be 18,000 cubits. “And the name of the city from that time on will be: THE LORD IS THERE. (Ezekiel 48:35)

           

JEHOVAH-SHAMMAH “The Lord who is present”

          I have to begin this with a disclaimer. It seems to me that this passage says that the name of the city is Jehovah-Shammah, not that a name of God is Jehovah-Shammah. That being  said, Scripture makes it clear that God is Jehovah-Shammah even if this passage doesn't. Jehovah-Shammah was present in Abraham's life, and Isaac's, Jacob's and Joseph's, in Moses' and Joshua's. Read Hebrews 11 as a Cliff Notes version of the Bible with regard to God's presence. 
         There are many times when I fail to keep Jehovah-Shammah in mind, times when I don't see His face or hand, and when I don't hear His voice. The fault is mine, whether through weakness or through the willful ignore-ance of spiritually putting my fingers in my ears, closing my eyes and saying "lalalalalala." Yes, His voice is often quiet. We have to look and listen for it, sometimes for a long time. It doesn't always come to us the way we want it to, when we want it to, or with the answer we want to get. 
         I've told this story before. I tend to get lost partly because I'm not paying close enough attention to where I'm going. I have whined to God many times that I am worried that I'll miss the "exit" I'm supposed to take. After years of my whining, He asked me whether I missed the exit when I went to college, when I came home from college, when I went back to college, and a series of other examples in my life. To each I had to (sheepishly) say, "Well, no." He then asked, "Then what makes you think I'll let you miss the next exit?" He has not. He has been with me through changes and struggles, guiding and protecting. He continues to be with me through good times and bad, richer and poorer, in sickness and in health, and He has promised to remain as long as we both shall live.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The List

              Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,   through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we boast in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance;   perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us. (Romans 5:1-5)           Think about it. We have been justified. At least, we could be justified if we stopped insisting that our justification be based on our merits. We have peace with God, or could have peace if we stopped throwing temper tantrums. We have gained access into grace i...
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

Listen To Him

              The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him . (Deuteronomy 18:15)           Today, we switch from Jesus’ claims of “I am” to prophecies made about Him. My Bible platform is starting in Deuteronomy. I’d start in Genesis, where we would learn that the one who would save us would be a descendant of Eve (Genesis 3:15), of Noah (by default), Abram and Sara(Genesis 12:1-3). Isaac (Genesis 17:19), Jacob (Genesis 25:23), Judah (Genesis 29:8), and David (II Samuel 7:12-16). There were also references to a new covenant (Jer. 31:31-34; Ezek. 36:22-32). In addition, there were prophecies about when and where the prophet/Messiah would be born and what would happen to him.           Of course, naysayers will claim that Jesus’ life was retrofitted or reverse enginee...
Post a Comment
Read more