God's Personal Name

So we're following a series over these few weeks on names for God, names of God.

And today we're thinking about the theme, God's personal name.

In that passage there from Psalm 68, we read,

Sing to God, sing praise to his name.

This is very much out of the kind of context of worship.

David is worshipping his God as he writes this psalm, and as this psalm has been sung over the centuries.

So there's a sense of identifying God as a deeply personal being who is named as such.

And the context there is worship.

And it perhaps raises a question that's, I think, one that is not an uncommon question to ask.

And it's this, why would God, if God's love, if he's a loving God,

why would God create human beings in order to receive worship from us?

That's a question that I found myself wrestling with actually quite a long time.

I found the words of C.S. Lewis quite helpful in this respect.

And C.S. Lewis put it like this.

He said that God created us, creates us, and sustains us in life in order to enjoy God.

In order to have a relationship with God, not just as an impersonal being that we believe in,

but actually a loving being who we have a living relationship with in a meaningful way.

And in order to enjoy that relationship, praise is a part of that.

Because praise is a part of anything that we enjoy in life.

For example, if you're eating something that you're really enjoying,

you kind of praise the food.

When you say, mmm.

You know, in the same way, if you stub your toe, you go, ouch.

Or something worse.

When you have a positive experience, you know, the positive, ouch, is a mmm.

And it's not just in food.

It's in anything.

If you're listening to a piece of music, you'll be expressing something.

You might actually find yourself kind of humming along with something as you're listening to it.

Then afterwards, you'd be saying, oh, that's just amazing.

And then you might be breaking it down and saying, that bit there was absolutely superb.

Or if you've seen an amazing film afterwards, you'll be telling people about it.

You've got to see this film.

It's absolutely amazing.

Or if you're out on a walk and there's an amazing scenery,

and you're with somebody and say, look at that over there.

Isn't that absolutely stunning?

You know, when we're generally caught up in the moment of enjoying a reality of life,

there's something about the very act of enjoying it that causes us to praise.

That might not always be the word that we might think of using, but we praise it.

In other words, we express the enjoyment that we have of it.

C.S. Lewis wrote this.

He said,

The most obvious fact about praise strangely escaped me.

I had never noticed that all enjoyment spontaneously overflows into praise.

The world rings with praise.

Walkers praising the countryside.

Players praising their favourite game.

Praise of weather, wines, dishes, actors, horses, colleges, countries, historical personages,

children, flowers, mountains, rare stamps.

Not quite sure about that one, but anyway, if that's your thing, enjoy it.

Rare books, even sometimes politicians, maybe, and scholars.

I think we delight to praise what we enjoy,

because the praise not merely expresses, but completes the enjoyment

in its appointed consummation.

It's not out of compliment that lovers keep on telling one another how beautiful they are.

The delight is incomplete until it is expressed.

In other words, worship and praise is consummation of joy.

And that's important when we come to think here about the way in which David names his God in worship,

because it's not just some sort of sterile thing that he's doing with his mind.

It's something that overflows from the heart.

As he outpours his worship,

so we see something of the way in which the name of God is expressed.

We see the enjoyment of God expressed in this psalm.

So as David celebrates God,

he celebrates him not as an abstract concept,

but for the very real practical ways in which he sees him in action in his daily lives.

Sing to God, says the psalm.

Sing to God.

Sing praise to his name.

His name is the Lord.

Now in Jewish thinking, in Hebrew thinking,

God considered so holy that there could be no name for God as such.

And eventually they came with, they arrived at the term Yahweh,

but most of the time in English, modern English translations,

that is translated into the word the Lord.

But what we see here is David praising the Lord,

who is so holy other that cannot actually be given a name,

but he calls him Yahweh the Lord.

But as he does so,

so in this psalm,

we can see a number of specific things that emerge

that David identifies in practical terms

what that means and why he wishes to praise his God in this way.

I want to suggest three things.

There are many more,

but I want to suggest three things that come out of these verses.

Firstly, we see David experience,

experience poured out in praise

as he refers to God,

who he sees is always before us,

who goes before us.

Secondly,

how that is the same God who bears our daily burdens.

And thirdly,

how he calls him Father.

Let's just think of those in turn.

Firstly,

he says that God is the God who goes before us.

In verse seven in this psalm,

it says,

when you went out before your people,

oh God,

when you marched through the wasteland,

the earth shook and the heavens poured down rain.

As this psalm is expressing this,

so it's pointing back to the time

when God's people were set free from slavery in Egypt

and they went into the desert

with the promise that one day

they would enter a promised land.

And all the while,

God was in front of them leading the way.

And as David recounts that experience in this psalm here,

we can imagine that David,

as a king leading Israel

during an extremely turbulent time in its history,

was acknowledging that in his daily experience

when he wasn't,

when he didn't know what was going to happen

to him and to his country,

nevertheless,

he believed,

he had this conviction

that God goes before us.

There's a story about a little girl

who first time was on a train,

like a train journey.

She was excited,

but she was also quite nervous.

And she was particularly nervous

as on this train,

she looked out of the window

and she could see on the horizon

a vast, expansive lake.

And the train was heading towards it.

And she was worried

what was going to happen

when the train hit the lake.

She couldn't see the bridge

until the split second

before the train

actually passed across the lake.

And as she did so,

she just said to her mum,

someone's put a bridge here for us.

And life can sometimes be like that,

where sometimes,

you know,

we're held on tender hooks,

we don't quite know

what's going to happen,

we see this thing

coming down the track at us.

And it's only when we get to that place

that then we sense,

no, it's okay,

God's got this.

And I sense that was

probably David's experience.

God goes before us.

Whatever situation you've got

going on in your life right now

that you might be feeling

apprehensive about,

God goes ahead of you

into that situation.

You can't see

how that's going to play out

because we can't see the future,

but the reassurance here

is that God does.

He goes ahead.

God puts the bridges

out ahead of us

for when we get there.

The second part there

is that David goes on

and says that

God daily bears our burdens

in verse 19.

He is the God

who daily bears our burdens.

Again,

David's experience

of leading his country

during this turbulent time

was that sense

that every day

God bears our burdens.

Now, what does that mean?

Clearly, it does not mean

that somehow

when we believe in God,

when we follow Jesus,

that we're suddenly immunised

from problems.

It doesn't work like that

and Jesus never said

it would be.

But there's a certain power

in this dynamic

of casting our burdens

and learning that dynamic

of casting our burdens

onto God.

when we experience

that sense

of looking down the track

and we don't know

what the future

is going to be like,

we're called to entrust

to cast our burdens

onto him.

1 Peter 5, verse 7

1 Peter 5:7

says,

cast all your anxiety,

all your burdens

onto him

because he cares for you.

So what does that

actually look like

in practical terms?

Well, apparently,

the only other place

in the whole

of the New Testament

where that word

casting actually appears

is in Luke chapter 19

Luke 19 · chapter mention

and it's when the disciples

get the colt

that Jesus rides on

into Jerusalem

in what was celebrated

as Palm Sunday

and we're told

that the disciples

took the colt

and they cast their cloaks

onto the colt

before Jesus got on it.

So what you've got there

is something,

a visual idea

of what that actually,

you know,

if you want to know

what that looks like,

just think of Jesus' disciples

taking off their robes

and just casting them

onto the colt.

They're throwing them on

and that's the same word

that is then used

in 1 Peter chapter 5.

1 Peter 5 · chapter mention

Cast your anxieties

onto God.

Now that's not an easy thing.

In some ways,

it's a lifelong process

that we're called

every day of our lives

to learn and to practice

more and more and more

but it's an ancient practice

and one that we see

going on in David

as he talks about

the God

who carries

our burdens

daily.

He promises

to carry them

but he calls us

to cast

those burdens

in trust

onto him.

George Muller,

he lived from

1805 to 1898

and during his

magnificent life

he did some

extraordinary things

but he was most

known for setting up

the orphanages

just up the road

in Bristol.

During his lifetime

it's estimated

that over

10,000

orphans

were taken care of

by George Muller's homes.

Over 10,000

young people.

It's extraordinary.

He was not only

just a practical man,

principally he was

a man of prayer.

And during the time

of setting these

orphanages up

he never made

public appeals

for money.

They were all

unsolicited gifts

apparently.

But he just prayed

that the provision

would come.

And he was known

and you may have

heard many stories

before about

how it wasn't

an uncommon

experience for him

to set out

everything not

knowing where

the next meal

was going to

come from.

One occasion

there was even

300 children

out and they

even said grace

before the food

actually arrived

that day.

It was another

occasion when

the boiler

broke down

and he just

prayed that

the people

would come along

and fix it

and that it

would happen

and it did.

It was another

occasion when

he was out

on a ship

and they

needed to get

somewhere

but there was

fog everywhere

and they had to

stop,

they had to

slow right down

and he said

to the captain

of the ship

let's go and

pray and the

captain just

said you're

wasting your

time,

you cannot

change the

meteorological

conditions by

prayer and

apparently

Muller said

let's just

go down

and pray

and he

insisted and

he went down

reluctantly and

apparently Muller

led in this

prayer and the

captain could see

this man was

earnest so he

started to then

pray and Muller

apparently classed

him by the arm

and said you

can stop there

and he just

said we've got

to come and

pray and he

said no no

you don't need

to,

I've already

said it,

you don't need

to say it

again,

honestly,

believe me,

the fog has

lifted,

they went

upstairs on

ship and

sure enough

the fog

had just

gone,

but apparently

Muller was

once asked

how on

earth he

managed to

keep up

with so

much activity

during his

life,

how he

managed to

keep going

in the middle

of a hectic

day with

continual

uncertainties as

to how he

would keep

these orphanages

going.

And apparently

he said

this,

I rolled

60 things

onto the

Lord this

morning.

Casting your

burdens.

It's simple,

it's not easy

though.

Of course it's

not easy,

sometimes the

most simple

things are the

most challenging

things.

And this is a

challenging thing

even though it's

a very simple

thing.

But that's what

we're called to

do, to trust in

that same God

that is named

by David as

the one who

carries our

burdens daily.

And in

practical terms,

what does that

look like?

What it looks

like learning

that discipline,

just being able

to let go and

to get on

with it.

The last

thing here

that David

says is that

he refers to

God as he

is the father

of the

fatherless.

That was

David's

experience.

You need to

remember,

David was,

when David

became king

and all his

brothers were

all lined up

as he was

going to be

a, you

know,

the prophet

went along

to his

house and

said,

who's going

to be the

new king?

And I'll

just know

when it's

the new

king and

I'll anoint

the one

with oil

who is

lined up.

All his

brothers

brought in

and David

was,

and he was

just still

out in the

field looking

after the

sheep.

He was the

runt of the

litter.

He didn't

think he was

worth even

bringing in.

No, no,

he's got to

be brought in.

And David

eventually was

brought in

straight away.

Yeah,

here's the

one.

Here's the

one who's

going to be

chosen,

promoted from

shepherd to

king,

just like

that.

So that was

David's

experience.

Now,

much history

passed since

David.

Jesus

enters the

scene and

proclaims that

we can have

that living

relationship

with our

God,

where we're

promoted,

not from

shepherd to

king,

but from

an ordinary

person to

a child of

God,

where we

can call

God

father.

Whatever our

experiences of

human fathers

have been,

whether it's

been magnificent,

whether it's

been terrible,

whatever it may

be, we're all

different.

The point here

is that the

true experience

of fatherhood as

it's meant to

be is defined

in the God

who loves you

unconditionally.

whatever you

might think

about yourself,

you're given

that radically

new identity,

you're offered

that new

identity and

invited to

enjoy that

identity and

to know that

you can dare

to call God

father, the

most personal

name that

you could

possibly be.

Apparently

Napoleon was

riding his

horse one

day and a

young private

just happens

to be nearby.

the horse

went out of

control.

This young

private ran

up to

Napoleon,

grabbed the

horse and

brought it

under control,

preventing

Napoleon from

being thrown

off the

horse.

Napoleon

didn't actually

know this

young man by

name except

he knew he

was a private

who hadn't

been in the

army long.

In one

breath, in

one moment,

he turned to

this young

man and

said,

thank you

captain.

He promoted

him in a

heartbeat.

In just

one word.

And in just

one word, you

were not

promoted from

private to

captain.

You

promoted to

child of

God.

In that one

word, father,

that you

were invited

to address

God as.

We get so

used to doing

this in praying

the Lord's

prayer as a

matter of

our father in

heaven, as

though it

just trots

off the

tongue.

What a

radical thing.

We are

called not

just to know

about God,

but to know

God.

And when we

hear that

name, we

hear God's

name as

father, the

most personal

name there

can possibly

be.

And with

it, we

hear that

new identity,

that

promotion.

You are

a child

of God.

So let's

praise and

let's worship

him every

day, but

let's do

that right

now.

Let's

pray.

Lord, thank

you that

you call

us into

that relationship,

not just a

belief system,

but a

relationship

with you.

And that

it's in

that relationship

of knowing

you and

enjoying you

that we're

invited to

praise you,

to praise you

out of that

sense of

overflowing

enjoyment,

of knowing

who you

are, and

of knowing

who we

are in

you.

Lord, we

thank you

for the

way in

which you

call us,

to know

that you

are always

before us,

that you

go ahead

of us,

that you

lay down

bridges that

we don't

know about.

Help us to

trust in you

for that.

Lord, thank

you that you

are the God

who promises

to bear our

daily burdens.

Help us to

trust in you

for that.

Help us to

cast our

burdens, our

anxieties onto

you in that

trust that we

can.

And whatever

we've got going

on in our

lives right

now, help

us to do

that right

now, to

cast it onto

you, knowing

that you carry

those burdens

and that is

your promise.

And Lord,

most of all,

thank you that

when we praise

your name, we

know that we

are not talking

about something

cold and

impersonal, but

we are talking

about you as

the living God,

our living

Father, who

loves us and

wants us to

know that we

are known and

loved by you

as your

children.

So help us to

do that, help

us to know

that, help us

to live by

that, now

and in the

time to come.

In Jesus'

name.

Amen.

Amen.