April 26, 2020, Isaiah 61:8-11; 62:2-4a – Post 3 – ISSL Reflections

IX.
This week we have looked at the images Isaiah uses to help us see and enter God’s Kingdom.

As we close our week with Isaiah, let’s look again at the passage in Isaiah 62

Isaiah 62:2-4 (New Revised Standard Version)

The nations shall see your vindication,
and all the kings your glory;
and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.

You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord,
and a royal diadem in the hand of your God.

You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate;
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the Lord delights in you,
and your land shall be married.

X.
Notice that the prophet tells us God’s people will no longer be called forsaken or desolate and that the Lord “delights in you.”

All that is certainly reason to rejoice, but I wonder what are we to make of –

and you shall be called by a new name
that the mouth of the Lord will give.

We all have names.

For some the name we are called by changes as we age, and might even change based on where we are. Are we called by different names at work or at home or even at other places? Do different sets of friends know us by different names or nicknames?

But the name Isaiah references is special.

It is the name God gives us and calls us by.

It wouldn’t take long for us to notice there are a number of times in Scripture individuals are renamed by God. That renaming may often marks a new phase in their lives or calls to attention something of their character that might not have been previously noticed.

God names you and me. God calls to us by the name he gives us and by that calling I wonder if God might not be forming us into the person God would have us be.

What do you hear? What is God naming you? My Child? Beloved?

By whatever name God is calling you, trust that it is the name that gives you life and firmly places you in God’s family.

charles
{ubi caritas et amor, Deus ibi est}


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