Psalm 147:1-5
"He determines the number of the stars and calls them each by name."
(PSALM 147:4)
"He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out."
(JOHN 10:3)
I had hoped from the very beginning of the adoption process that my husband and I might be able to name the children who would become ours. I thought naming a child would make that little one feel more like "mine." But that privilege was to be for the birthparents. By God's providence, both mothers in different years had planned to choose names that turned out to be (or be close to) our last name. When they learned of our last name and that naming a child "Dane Daane" would never do, they laughed and invited us to join them in choosing different names.
Naming the babies was sweet, but by that time I had settled in my heart that God in His sovereignty had names chosen for those babies even before they were born. If I am really a believer in Jesus Christ, He has given me a new name, too (Revelation 2:17 Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it.). My greater longing would be not to make sure my adopted children "feel like mine," and carry my name, but to seek with all my heart to follow after Christ so that together we would live for His name.
INSIGHT
JESUS, THE ONE WHO KNOWS US, WILL GIVE US A NEW NAME IN GLORY, AND WE WILL KNOW IT. OUR ADOPTION BY HIM WILL BE FINALIZED!
READ THROUGH THE BIBLE IN A YEAR
Ezekiel 27-28
Psalm 144
1 Thessalonians 5
Psalm 147:1-5
New International Version (NIV)
1 Praise the Lord.[a]
How good it is to sing praises to our God,
how pleasant and fitting to praise him!
2 The Lord builds up Jerusalem;
he gathers the exiles of Israel.
3 He heals the brokenhearted
and binds up their wounds.
4 He determines the number of the stars
and calls them each by name.
5 Great is our Lord and mighty in power;
his understanding has no limit.
Footnotes:
a. Psalm 147:1 Hebrew Hallelu Yah; also in verse 2
A PRAYING LIFE
with Paul Miller
We know prayer is important, so why do we avoid praying? There's only one cure for this and Jesus is the One with the remedy.
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