When God met Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:4) he called him by name twice. God was not just looking for any old person to go to Pharaoh ‘to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt’ (Exodus 3:10). He wanted Moses and despite his misgivings and protests God was determined. He knew that given time Moses would be the very man to fulfil his plans and purposes and of course God was right!
Abraham was consistently spoken to by God by name (especially Genesis 22:2). Samuel was also called by God by name even as a young boy (I Samuel 3:4, 6, 8 and 10). God met with Samuel and his course for life was set. Jeremiah was also called as a child (Jeremiah 1: 5). Do you notice that each time their answer was, ‘Here I am’? God even called his servant Cyrus by name before Cyrus was even born (Isaiah 44: 28 and 45: 1). This is all very well for Old Testament prophets but what about ‘little me’ today in 2012? Let us take heart from Mary Magdalene in one of my favourite accounts in the Bible (John 20: 1 – 18).
On the first day of the week Mary had gone early to Jesus’ tomb to continue to put the spices and perfumes they had prepared on Jesus’ body. She had no anticipation of resurrection and was astonished to find the stone rolled away. Even after Peter and John had looked at the empty tomb and gone back home, she stood weeping outside. It was bad enough that Jesus had been crucified but now she believed someone had stolen his body. Despite two angels asking why she was crying, she still didn’t expect an answer from them for she turned away and saw what she thought was the gardener. 'The gardener' asked her why she was crying and she asked him where the body was. It is at this point that Jesus just said, ‘Mary’! Instantly she knew it was the Lord. She cried out to him and obviously clung on to him no doubt amazed, bewildered, astonished and full of great joy. Her day that had started with such sorrow was transformed by one word, her name, spoken by Jesus. All the hopes and dreams that had disappeared when he died on the cross had just come back to life. Everything that was hopeless was now hopeful. Everything that was dead had come alive because Jesus was alive and had spoken to her by name.You are not just a believer; you are a chosen, beloved child of God who knows you by name. You are individually known, loved and overwhelmingly cared for by a God who you may not see but who sees you. God wants to reassure you today that he is calling you by name and he wants to breathe life into some old hopes and dreams that seemed to lie in ashes at your feet. He wants to bring resurrection life to them. Hear him call your name and trust him afresh to work all things out for good.
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