I have been trying to find a verse that I have found a blessing in the past, but could not locate it. Today it sort of dropped in my lap and in seeking to be more confident in my understanding, I feel I have learned that it is really much more wonderful than I thought.
Bear with me, because this is special. In Isaiah 43:1 the Bible speaks of God "knowing our names" or in some translations "giving us our names" and that is pretty special. The whole idea of God knowing my name rather blows me away, but when I started looking more fully at this verse I found this translation in the Jewish Hebrew Bible:
Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy shem; thou art Mine.
So I wanted to understand shem more clearly and I learned that although the King James Bible uniformly translates this as "name" (and it does sometimes mean that) that in this verse a functional SHEM definition is more like this: 'the essential reality of who someone is'.
Wow. God knows the essence of who I am. Now in some ways that is pretty scary because I know better than anyone every unholy impulse, unkind thought, uncaring gesture that I am both capable of and guilty of. So look at what God has said here: "Don't be afraid for I have redeemed you." That means that God finds me worthy and He goes on to call me His own! God is saying, "I know ALL about you and love you completely, long for your highest good, have planned a future for you of peace and hope and purpose."
As usual, God has so much more for me than I expect for myself. He does not just know my name; He knows the real me and cares about me and saves me and claims me.
Wow. I mean, really, Wow.
Bear with me, because this is special. In Isaiah 43:1 the Bible speaks of God "knowing our names" or in some translations "giving us our names" and that is pretty special. The whole idea of God knowing my name rather blows me away, but when I started looking more fully at this verse I found this translation in the Jewish Hebrew Bible:
Fear not; for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy shem; thou art Mine.
So I wanted to understand shem more clearly and I learned that although the King James Bible uniformly translates this as "name" (and it does sometimes mean that) that in this verse a functional SHEM definition is more like this: 'the essential reality of who someone is'.
Wow. God knows the essence of who I am. Now in some ways that is pretty scary because I know better than anyone every unholy impulse, unkind thought, uncaring gesture that I am both capable of and guilty of. So look at what God has said here: "Don't be afraid for I have redeemed you." That means that God finds me worthy and He goes on to call me His own! God is saying, "I know ALL about you and love you completely, long for your highest good, have planned a future for you of peace and hope and purpose."
As usual, God has so much more for me than I expect for myself. He does not just know my name; He knows the real me and cares about me and saves me and claims me.
Wow. I mean, really, Wow.
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