Month: January 2024

What is the top song of all time?  The answer would depend on who you are asking, the genre you think of, and your culture.  A quick Google search on the subject turns up a variety of answers, including:

• “Imagine” by John Lennon
• “Respect” by Aretha Franklin
• “White Christmas” by Bing Crosby

My answer would be different.  In the #2 spot, I would put “Amazing Grace” by John Newton.  This song, written in 1772, is still sung by various artists in almost every genre.  Each of the four stanzas/verses describes how God touched the life of Newton to change him from a slave trader to a devout pastor.  In the process, Newton describes God as his Savior, Seeker, Healer, Peacemaker, Shield, and Hope.

My choice for the number one song of all time must be the “Song of the Good Shepherd” by King David.  “Psalms” means a Sacred Song, and David wrote many of the recorded Psalms in the Book of Psalms.  However, Psalm 23 is undoubtedly the best-known Scripture passage wherever Christianity has spread. 

All kinds of people have quoted Psalm 23 through the 3000 years since it was first written (and sung).  People quote it in funerals, fox-holes, and “fiery furnaces.”  Believers and unbelievers alike have found comfort in the words of David’s song.

In hymn writing, there is usually a chorus along with several verses.  David’s song begins with the chorus: “The Lord is my Shepherd I shall not want.”  This opening chorus line is followed by several verses describing how the Good Shepherd performed his role in David’s life.    

Notice David’s song expresses a personal relationship:  “God is my shepherd” rather than “God is a shepherd.”  This song is a personal account of how David experienced God during his lifetime.  Drawing from his life experience as a shepherd, David presents God as the ultimate Good Shepherd. 

Based on the track record of the Good Shepherd, David concludes, “I shall not want” (vs 1).  He is confident that God will be his Shepherd whatever landscape/circumstance he faces; his future is secure.  When we remember how God has shown up in the past defining moments of our lives, we, too, experience security and hope for the future. 

After the introductory chorus, David adds several verses to his hymn.

• He makes me lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside quiet waters (vs. 2).  Sheep do not lie down unless they feel secure and at peace.  Here, David declares God is his Leader and Provider of Peace (Jehovah-Shalom).

• He restores my soul (vs.3A) identifies God as his Healer (Jehovah-Rapha).  David sometimes felt his soul crushed, beaten up, and worn down by people and circumstances.  Yet God showed up each time and restored his soul.  In this Psalm, David doesn’t specifically identify how God did it, just that he did it.   

• He guides me in the paths of righteousness for His name’s sake (vs. 3B).  In this verse, David reflects on the Shepherd Leader, who knows the right way to go and leads accordingly.  Note that the result is that God’s name is honored, and the goodness of his nature is revealed.  David declares that God is his Banner (Jehovah-Nissi), leading the way to righteousness.

• Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for you are with me (vs. 4A).  Here, David declares that God is Immanuel, God with us, not in a mystical way but in a tangible way where the power of God’s presence overcomes fears and the threat of evil.  David is declaring God as his Protector, his Shield (Jehovah-Magen).

• Your rod and your staff comfort me (vs. 4B).  There is a wealth of understanding found in the tools of the Shepherd that we miss in our modern culture.  However, the main idea behind these tools was that they brought comfort and guidance to an anxious heart.  In the defining moments of stress and anxiety, God was David’s Comforter (Jehovah-Nechama).

• You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies (vs. 5A).  A good shepherd in David’s time was responsible for seeking out and providing pasture (a banquet, so to speak) for his sheep.  David experienced a spiritual banquet while his enemies were watching.  Here, God is not only his Provider (Jehovah-Jireh) but his Defender:  the one who fights for him (Jehovah-Tsaba). 

• You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows (vs. 5B).  In ancient times, oil symbolized joy and gladness (See Psalm 45:7; Isaiah 61:3); anointing was an act of respect and honor.  David refers to God as his source of true over-flowing joy, whether in the landscape of a storm or having a mountain-top experience.  God is his exceeding joy (El Simchah Giyli; Psalm 43:4). 

•  Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever (vs. 6).  David’s confident expectation for the future is not based on merit but on the grace-filled nature of YHWY.  God will never leave him or forsake him.  God is David’s Hope (Miqweh) and Refuge (Jehovah-Metzudah), full of goodness and lovingkindness. 

David sings his song as a catalyst for those following in his footsteps of discovering YHWY.    So, where are we in that discovery process?  When we have a similar experience of God’s loving intervention, do we recognize it as such?  By faith, do we see the fingerprint of God in our lives?  Can we point to a time when God was our Shield or Provider?   Do we celebrate as David did?  Do we remember and tell others how the Lord is our Good Shepherd?  Or have we failed to give God the credit due to his name?

For Reflection

1. Reflect on the narrative of David’s life as recorded in 2 Samuel and discover the times he refers to in his life song.
2. What names of God would make up your life song?

God’s mission throughout history is to proclaim his name to the nations.  In the Old Testament, God’s strategy was to reveal his name (nature/glory) to a chosen group of people (Hebrew/Israel) so that by knowing him uniquely, they could share that knowledge with the nations.

“Tell of His glory among the nations, His wonderful deeds among all the peoples” (Psalm 96:3).

God’s blessing on Israel was directly related to how well they accomplished that objective.  When they unrepentantly profaned his name, he sent them into exile to teach them to treat his name as holy.  But even in their exile, the mission was still the same:  The glory of his name.

“For from the rising of the sun even to its setting, My name shall be great among the nations” (Malachi 1:11).

God’s “name” is used as a singular, plural word.  He reveals his name in his names.  Those names declare both his transcendence and his immanence.  (See TADB:119).  In the scriptural narrative, God declares who he is by giving himself various names.  But God’s nature is also declared by people who encounter him in the various landscapes of their lives.  As people experience God’s work, they memorialize the event by giving God a name related to how God showed up. 

Abraham

One of the more familiar and early examples is Abraham when he was sent to offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice on Mt. Moriah. 

“Isaac spoke to his father Abraham and said, “My father!” And he said, “Here I am, my son.” And he said, “Look, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for the burnt offering?” Abraham said, “God will provide for Himself the lamb for the burnt offering, my son….Then Abraham raised his eyes and looked, and behold, behind him was a ram caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in the place of his son.  And Abraham named that place The LORD Will Provide (Jehovah-Jireh, as it is said to this day, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided” (Genesis 22:7-14 emphasis mine).

Abraham told Isaac that God would somehow provide.  So, I don’t think Abraham was surprised when the ram appeared as a substitute for Isaac.  He expected God to show up; he just didn’t know how.  As a result of his encounter with God on Mt. Moriah, Abraham gave God a name that captured one of God’s many attributes.  Abraham went from God as a provider to God as my Jehovah-Jireh.

Paul echoes God as a Provider in his letter to the Romans.  “He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things” (Romans 8:32)?

Abraham left a memorial name of God that is an invitation for believers down through history to discover for themselves.  Since God showed up and provided for Abraham, Paul, and Hudson Taylor, we can trust him to show up as Jehovah-Jireh on our Mt. Moria. 

Hagar (Genesis 16:1-16)

Given the prominence of Abraham in the Bible and his life as the foundation for our faith, it is not surprising that he would be qualified to identify a name for God.  But what about Hagar?  She was the maidservant of Sarah, Abraham’s wife.  She was a nobody, living out her life in servitude and obscurity were it not for the impatience of Abraham. 

She was just doing her job when she got caught up in biblical history.  Due to no fault of her own, Hagar became the object of Sarah’s abuse and Abraham’s neglect.  Pregnant with Abraham’s child, she is first welcomed but then rejected by her mistress, Sarah.  With the continual abuse and no support from Abraham, she flees to a desert oasis. 

While confused and alone, an angel of Jehovah appears to her, giving her instructions to return home but with a promise for her future.  Her life would not get more uncomplicated or more comfortable.  She would still suffer Sarah’s abuse for 14 more years.  But at the moment of her need at the oasis, God showed up, and she gave him a name: El-Roi, the God who sees. 

David/Gideon

Drawing from his background as a shepherd, King David declared, “The Lord is my Shepherd (Yahweh-Rohi).”  David saw God showing up in his life as a superlative shepherd.  Psalm 23 is probably the most recognized passage in the Bible by believers and non-believers alike.  David’s description of El-Rohi has brought perspective and comfort to millions of people through the centuries.  This Psalm illustrates the power of a song well sung. 

Living in and dealing with an agrarian culture, Jesus claims the same name for himself when he says, “I am the Good Shepherd.”  In John 10, he expands the name (Yahweh-Rohi) by describing what a good shepherd does, assuring us that there is more to God as our Shepherd than even David understood.

Well before the famous king David, there was another nobody, like Hagar, who described God’s works by a name.  Gideon came from an insignificant clan in a small tribe (Manasseh), the youngest son in a blue-collar family (Judges 6:15).  He had little to recommend him as one who would defeat the mighty Midianites. 

But when the “mighty warrior” Gideon, struggling to make sense of his mission, encountered God with a promise of peace, he spontaneously gave God a name:  Yahweh-Shalom (The Lord is peace).   God would show up for Gideon in other ways, but it all started with the God of peace. 

The biblical narrative records others who gave God a name after experiencing his work in their lives.    After Joshua defeated the Amalekites, Moses called God, “The LORD (Jehovah) is my Banner (Jehovah-Nissi)” (Exod. 17:15-16).  Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Zechariah called God Yahweh-Sabaoth (The Lord of hosts or The Lord Almighty). 

Me!

A few years ago, while my wife and I were experiencing several concurrent life storms, I received a call that an EMT had taken our severely handicapped son to the hospital with pneumonia.  In his handicapped condition, any respiratory infection could be life-threatening.  As I drove to the hospital, I felt overwhelmed.   One of our storms had just gotten bigger.  I wanted God to show up as the Shepherd with green pastures, but he didn’t.

I had recently read the story of John Johnson, nicknamed the “Galveston Giant,” who was the first black world heavyweight boxing champion (1908–1915).  I recalled reading that in 1909 Johnson took the World Colored Heavyweight Championship from Sam McVey in Paris in an unbelievable 49-round fight. 

That morning, I felt I was in round 20 of a boxing match that could go 49.  That’s when God showed up as my “Cornerman” (Jehovah- קורנרמן)!  A good cornerman in boxing does three things between rounds:   addresses physical needs, offers tactical advice, and gives encouragement for the round ahead.

The drive to the hospital was the break between rounds where God became my Good Cornerman.  God breathed life into my spiritual lungs as I sat on my stool in the corner of the ring.  Then, with his coaching voice, he said I was taking blows because I was dropping my gloves.  He said I needed to keep up my left glove of faith and my right glove of hope.  I needed to lead more with faith and follow it up with hope. 

Then the bell rang.  Standing up, he grabbed my shoulder.  Pulling the stool away, he whispered, “And remember, my grace is sufficient for you; my power is made sufficient in weakness.”  And with that, I entered the hospital lobby; the next round was on.

I am not the first person where God showed up as a Cornerman.  God was King David’s Cornerman in Nathan, the prophet.  For Queen Esther, it was her cousin and guardian, Mordecai.  When God shows up as our Cornerman, it is not to take us out of the fight but to help us victoriously persevere in it.

Thanks to the scriptural record, we have a list of God’s names that reveal his glory.   But the list is not comprehensive.  He is waiting for us to discover his nature experientially and describe his work with a name.  God is my _____ (and we fill in the blank).  These names and the work of God they represent are the stuff of our life song.  They are the verses and chorus of our spiritual legacy.

For Reflection

1.  What name of God has been most relevant along your journey?  Why?

•  Has God shown up at a defining moment where you have yet to give him a name?  What could it be?