Psalm 9:10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

There are many kinds of trusting. The phrase used in the Japanese translation here means “find refuge in and depend on.” That’s pretty descriptive, I think. We find refuge in all sorts of things – “comfort foods” come to mind – and we depend on even more. Many people have an academic awareness that God is more worthy of that than anyone or anything else, but that awareness remains largely theoretical until it is tested. For too many of us, God is pretty far down the list when it comes to actually finding refuge and depending on something. This verse illustrates a linguistic/cultural shift that can cause misunderstanding of quite a few Biblical passages, and that is the meaning and inference of someone/something’s name. Throughout the Bible, a name is a representation of the character and core reality of a person or thing. That’s why it was so significant that Adam was told to name the animals. (Genesis 2:19-20) Today we tend to just tack Jesus’ name onto our prayers, when Jesus’ instructions to pray in His name meant to pray in line with His character and who He is. In this verse, “knowing the name” of the Creator meant really knowing Him, in a vital, ongoing relationship. We cannot know Him fully on this earth, but the correct starting point is expressed here: seeking after Him, inquiring of Him. The better we know Him the more we will want to know Him, in a beautiful, ongoing cycle.

I have been blessed to know of God literally all my life, as a child of missionary parents. However, really knowing Him personally has been, and continues to be, an ongoing process. I find my flesh still tries to take refuge in things other than God, and occasionally in things that are in direct opposition to God. I still get anxious at times, as though I were in charge of things or I had to make them happen by my own strength and wisdom. However, the Lord has brought me through time after time when there was no way I could do the job myself, but He has done it through me, or sometimes even in spite of me! Those experiences weren’t necessarily enjoyable at the time, but as it says in Hebrews, they “produced a harvest of righteousness and peace.” (Hebrews 12:11) I’m not to complain or rebel at such circumstances, but rather give thanks, and I am to seek to lead others to do likewise. Really knowing God is more than worth it!

Father, the past two weeks have been hectic to say the least, and the rush isn’t over yet. Help me accept this too as training from Your loving hand, and rest, relax, and rejoice in You even while I’m running full speed, so that You may receive all the glory as Your will is accomplished on Your schedule. Thank You. Hallelujah!