Sunday, October 13, 2019

FILL IN YOUR NAME

Fill in Your Name
. . . He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name.
Isaiah 40:26


In Love Letters from God, Glenys Nellist invites children to interact with the Lord in a deeply personal way. These children’s books include a note from God with a space for the child’s name to be inserted after each Bible story. Personalizing scriptural truth helps her young readers understand that the Bible isn’t just a storybook. They’re being taught that the Lord wants a relationship with them and that He speaks to His greatly loved children through the Scriptures.

I bought the book for my nephew and filled in the blanks in the beginning of every note from God. Delighted when he recognized his name, my nephew said, “God loves me too!” What a comfort to know the deeply and completely personal love of our loving Creator.
When God spoke to the Israelites directly through the prophet Isaiah, He called their attention to the heavens. The Lord affirmed that He controls “the starry host” (Isaiah 40:26), determines each star’s individual value, and directs each one with love. He assured His people that He won’t forget or lose one star . . . or one beloved child that He’s sculpted with deliberate purpose and endless love.

As we celebrate our Almighty God’s intimate promises and proclamations of love within Scripture, we can fill in our names. We can trust and declare with childlike delight, “God loves me too!”
By Xochitl Dixon

REFLECT & PRAY
God, thank You for affirming that Your love is a personal gift for each and every one of us. Thank You for assuring us that You know our names and can handle all of our needs.

How does it feel when you realize God loves you and knows your needs? What Bible verse could you remember that’s a personal promise to you?

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SCRIPTURE INSIGHT

One of the ways God is magnified in Isaiah 40 is through the use of rhetorical questions—questions not asked in anticipation of an answer but to provoke one’s thoughts, to drive home a point. An example of this device in the Bible is the book of Job, particularly chapters 38-41, where God is the One asking the questions. In Isaiah 40, after the pronouncements of the comfort that awaited the people of God through the Lord’s coming (vv. 1-5), the trustworthiness of God’s words (vv. 6-8), and the might and mercy that would attend His coming (vv. 9-11), the questions begin to roll in verse 12 and they don’t stop until verse 28! They’re designed to help believing people throughout history to ponder the incomparable greatness of our loving God. Arthur Jackson

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