Names of God Series: Believing in Jehovah El Emeth

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of: Alex Shute

"Into your hand I entrust my spirit; you have redeemed me, Lord, God of truth." 

~Psalm 31:5

In our names of God series, we next come to the name Jehovah El Emeth, which means literally "The Lord God of Truth" pointing to the reality that God is the ultimate source of truth.

This may seem like an obvious claim, but in our day and age of relativism when there seems to be  a common disdain for the concept of absolute truth in our culture, I believe it to be timely and important for us to study this particular name of God.

We are likely already well acquainted with the concept of Jesus as being the Truth, a claim He made about Himself in a famous passage from the book of John. But what we may not have put two and two together on before is that God the Father is also referred to as the God of Truth, making this concept one of continuity in the Godhead across the Old and New Testaments both. 

What this means is that there can be left no room for doubt as to whether or not absolute truth and only absolute truth are to be found in our God. What this means for us is that we can trust Him, for there is no dishonesty or dissection in Him. We can go to Him for guidance and wisdom when we don't know what to do or which way to turn. When we don't know which way is up, we can ask Him what is true, knowing that there is no guile or dissection found in Him. In a quickly changing, often confusing world, what a blessing that is to be able to rely on!

Reflection Questions:

1) What stands out to you the most about this name of God?

2) How does it change your viewpoint or outlook on life remembering that our God is a God of truth?

3) Does the way you live your life illustrate for others that you do believe Him to be a God of truth?

Remembered & Seen

 By: Joanne Viola

 

“But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, 
because I have rejected him; 
for God sees not as man sees, 
for man looks at the outward appearance, 
but the Lord looks at the heart.” 
(1 Samuel 16:7, NASB) 

The verse has been stuck in my thoughts for days now. Physical appearance has probably never been more important to society than it is nowadays. All day long we are bombarded by commercials and social media posts touting weight loss injections and drinks, face creams, hair products, make-up, and styling tools. Our feeds are never ending.

Yet in this verse, we uncover God’s criteria when He looks at people.

Samuel was tasked with anointing the king whom God had selected to rule over His people. When sitting down at feast, Samuel looked over all of Jesse’s sons and thought all of them were present. Here we see Samuel being influenced by what his eyes were seeing.

But God’s response was the same for each, “Neither has the Lord chosen this one.” 

Finally Samuel asked, “Are all the young men here.” With that question, he discovers there is one young man out tending to the sheep. When brought before Samuel, the Lord responds, “Arise, anoint him; for this is the one!” (1 Samuel 16:12, NASB)

God does not look at the physical but delves deeper. It is what is in our hearts which God takes into consideration.

God is looking for our lives to be a display of honor, integrity, humility, grace, compassion, and mercy.

This verse is a caution not only to Samuel back then, but to each one of us today. We are to look past what we see with our eyes, and be sure to listen to the voice of God to see as He sees.

“Our filter is profoundly skewed by our hurts and fears, our cultural trends, and our own judgments. But if our eyes opened up to see what God sees we’d marvel at the things God values, and at what He finds distasteful.”

(from Prevail by Susie Larson, page 73)

David was out in the pasture, doing his normal responsibilities of tending sheep. He was forgotten by his father and brothers, and unseen by Samuel.

But he was neither forgotten nor unseen by God, and neither are any of us.
May this fill our hearts with hope.
You are remembered, seen, and cared for by God.

 

 

Reflection: 
Are you feeling forgotten or unseen today? How do you remind yourself to stay faithful and humble to what God has called you to do?

 

Photo by Debby Hudson on Unsplash

 

For the Lord: From Perfectionism to Worship

 By: Lauren Thomas 

This is embarrassing, but, as a child, my naïve and incorrect interpretation of a certain Bible verse had an unfortunate consequence: raw, cracked hands. How? And I’m cringing as I write this… Sometimes I would re-wash my hands, repeatedly, because I was worried I hadn’t done it “good enough” the first time. No, this wasn’t about an OCD diagnosis. It was about thinking Colossians 3:23 meant I had to do everything perfectly. In the NIV this verse says, “whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.” If I realized that I had done something – anything – on autopilot, I felt like I had to re-do it “with all my heart.” I began to drive myself crazy – not clinically crazy, don’t worry – worrying about all my “work” being “with all my heart.” By God’s grace, this issue was resolved!

I had forgotten about this until recently when I was studying through Colossians. Thankfully, now I have a better grasp on how to interpret and apply Scripture. 

 

Whatever you do, do it from the heart, as something done for the Lord and not for people,

Colossians 3:23 CSB

 

This verse has nothing to do with obsessive perfectionism. It’s about belonging to the only one who is perfect. 

 

In context, Paul was giving a directive to slaves: to serve their earthly masters as if they were serving Jesus. This came at the end of a segment where Paul was explaining that, in Christ, a restructuring of institutions was necessary, and that the restructuring involved a different authority from what the Roman culture was used to. Instead of patriarchs and slave owners being at the top, Jesus was to be the Christian’s primary authority, and all others were to be treated as equals in Christ (see Colossians 3:11, 18-4:1). 

 

Jesus is the only source of perfection. And he understands our flawed humanity. He doesn’t require perfect performance from us. He desires sincerity. He desires that our work be done with excellence. But more than that, he desires that in our work, we are worshiping our perfect Lord, who deserves all praise. 

 

So, as I wipe pasta sauce from my children’s faces, as I fold laundry, as I sweep the floor, as I teach a Bible class, my aim isn’t perfection. Instead, my goal in all this work is to change it into worship of my Lord. 

 

Reflection:

Think about the work you do through the week, be it housework or tasks from your employer. What would change if you did these tasks “from the heart” and “for the Lord”? Does your work look like worship? Who is Lord in your life?

Cast Your Cares

By: Jenifer Metzger

Cast v.
[kast, kahst]
1. To throw or hurl; fling
2. To throw off or away

Cast all your anxiety on Him

because He cares for you.

1 Peter 5:7

Cast your cares on the Lord

and He will sustain you;

He will never let

the righteous be shaken.

Psalm 55:22

The Bible says to cast our cares on God. God could have chose any word for these verses. Yet, out of the hundred-thousand, or so, words in existence, God choose the word cast. When I hear the word cast, I automatically think of someone fishing. They cast their line out which means they throw, hurl, or fling their line as far out as they can into the water. They try to get the line far from them.

God says to cast our cares on Him. What does that really mean? It means to throw our cares to Him. Hurl our cares to Him. Or fling our cares to Him. It doesn't mean to simply hand Him our cares timidly and it surely doesn't mean to get them close to Him, then pull them back!

Whatever trial you are facing, whatever pain is upon you, cast it to Him. God is far better equipped to deal with it than you are. Cast it to Him and let Him sustain you.

Discussion:
1. Think of a time you gave your cares to God. Did you do it timidly? Did you try to take it back?
2. When we give our cares to God we can trust Him to take care of the situation. When you cast your cares on Him, remind yourself of His goodness and faithfulness to care for you.

Names of God Series: Looking to Jehovah Gmolah

 By: Rebekah Hargraves

Photo Courtesy of: Claudio Schwarz

"Leave Babylon;

save your lives, each of you!

Don’t perish because of her guilt.

For this is the time of the Lord’s vengeance—

he will pay her what she deserves."

 ~Jeremiah 51:6

In this week's installment in our Names of God series, we come now to the name Jehovah Gmolah. I was not familiar with this name before preparing for this study, and was unaware that the meaning of it is "The God of Recompense", showing that our God repays and restores vengeance.

.Many of us are familiar with the passage of Scripture which states that vengeance is the Lord's, and He will repay. We are also likely familiar with the fact that our God is a God of justice. But to realize that not only are those two things true, but that one of His very names is all about these realities is something else altogether! These truths reveal aspects of His character, pointing to Who He is. 

In a day and age in which injustice runs rampant, it is a special comfort to know the Lord is the One Who will repay, that He is the One who will meet out justice as needed - in both the small things as well as the big ones. In small everyday inconveniences like when we are vilified or mistreated by people on the opposite side of the political spectrum from us or called names on social media as people more and more hide behind their screens these days, we can know we don't have to exercise retaliation in any way. Likewise, in the bigger issues of life when entire people groups are marginalized and mistreated and injustice seems to prevail, we can take comfort in the fact that our Jehovah Gmolah reigns, and He will repay and act with complete and utter justice.

We live in what feel like increasingly dark times, and it is a comfort to know that our God's got this. He is not blind to the injustices of our day. He is not unaware of how His children are mistreated. He sees it all, and He will act accordingly.

Reflection Questions:

1) How does it relieve a burden from your shoulders to know that you don't have to seek vengeance yourself?

2) How can you encourage someone today who has been the victim of injustice with the truth that our God is a God of justice?