Excerpt from Psalm 106: 1-12  

 “Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known” 

Reflection by Kenneth L. Samuel

I’m old enough to remember when a person’s good name meant something.  My mother would send me to the corner store in our neighborhood with a list of things that she needed, but with no money. The grocer would fill the bag with the items on my mother’s list and give the bag to me to take home. No payment was required at the time, simply because of my mother’s good name and her reputation for paying her debts. My mother’s good name alone put food on our table many nights.

A good name is still worth protecting and preserving. Promises are only as good as the people who make them. The many names of God are celebrated and revered around the globe today because those names bring the loving, sustaining, forgiving, delivering character of God before us.  And whether we call God Wonderful Counselor, Prince of Peace, Ground of Being, Love Incarnate, Way Maker, Awesome Wonder or Constant Friend, God’s character is always consistent with God’s name.

The children of Israel had fallen into sin, idolatry and disobedience. But God, being true to the names of mercy and forgiveness, saved them from their self-destruction and from their menacing detractors.  The salvation of Israel was not due to Israel’s righteousness, but to the commitment of God to protect and preserve the integrity of God’s own name.

The name of God still has the power to lift us despite our downfalls and to redeem us despite our unworthiness. 

Prayer
Gracious God, we thank you for the love, the mercy and the salvation that we have in your name.  Thank you for being all that we call you, and more . . .  .  Amen.

About the Author Kenneth L. Samuel is Pastor of Victory for the World Church, Stone Mountain, Georgia.

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