Call upon his name
1 Chronicles 16:8 English Standard Version
8 Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!
Is there anything that you are thankful for today? Many times, we become so distracted and so busy we may never stop to truly meditate on the goodness of God. The Lord holds everything together by His mighty power. Today if you are reading this and you personally know Him, His grace and mercy has been lavished on your life. For anyone to be saved God had to make a way for man to be able to come to Him without works or performance. For if our salvation in anyway was based on our works or performance, in our humanity we would fail. No one could be saved.
But God in His grace made salvation a gift. A gift to simply be received by faith. It requires us to come to a place of humility and see our need for a savior. The Lord tells us to call upon His name. The word call means call, give a name to, summon. Conveys a variety of senses related to the general notion of calling.[1] The hope and the confidence we have is when we call upon the name of the Lord, He hears us. The moment we begin to open our mouths and draw near to God, we have an audience with the one who controls everything and rules over everything. Nothing is impossible with God but so many times the enemy will influence us to be silent. It may be because of fear, worry, anxiety, distraction, or busyness. But God wants us to call to Him. God wants us to call for help.
The Lord says make known his deeds among the peoples. The word deeds mean deed, action. — something that people do or cause to happen.[2] The deeds of the Lord are all the things He has done in the past to show Himself faithful. Over and over again in our own lives the Lord shows Himself faithful. There have been many times in my life when I thought God had abandoned me or given up on me. Sometimes we wonder how can I share with others the faith and relationship I have with Jesus Christ. The greatest way often is simply by our testimony. Our testimony is a recounting of what God has accomplished in our lives by His grace. Every one of us are saved by His grace, we have been rescued and brought out of the dominion of darkness. God does this not because we deserve it, but because of His love for us.
Have you shared with anyone the truth and relationship you have found in Jesus? If the answer is no, I encourage you to begin to pray for opportunities to share what Jesus has done. There are lost and broken people around us every day. Every interaction is an opportunity to tell about the goodness of our God. I encourage you today to take time to reflect on what you are thankful for and when the time comes share that with others.
Prayer
Father thank you for your grace and mercy. Thank you that you are good all the time. Even in the moments when I thought you had forgotten and abandoned me, you did not. You have always provided, you have always led me by your love. Father today help me to live for you, to know you, to tell others of your goodness in my life. In the name of Jesus, Amen!
[1] William A. Simmons, “Calling or Commission,” ed. Douglas Mangum et al., Lexham Theological Wordbook, Lexham Bible Reference Series (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2014).
[2] Rick Brannan, ed., Lexham Research Lexicon of the Hebrew Bible, Lexham Research Lexicons (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2020).
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