Squad Rules
The Bible has a lot to say about relationships; relationships with God, relationships with our families, relationships with our friends and even with our enemies. And we all value the relationships that we have. However, many of us realize that after committing to a life dedicated to God that some relationships tend to become strained. There is tension between spending time with friends and family and spending time with them in ways that honor God and don’t draw us back into a lifestyle from where we’ve repented. There are some people that we learn that we simply can’t be in relationship any longer and that’s ok! Jesus Himself said that He didn’t come to bring peace but a sword resulting in sons against fathers and daughters against mothers.
Relationships with people are important, even those who don’t believe in God as you might. But all relationships must be kept in proper prospective. I want to characterize 3 different categories of people that we have in our lives.
dTO, WITH, FOR
The first category is those who we RUN TO. These are those people who live a life that we find commendable. They are those who excel in parts of their lives in such a way that we can model ourselves after them. They are those who lead, mentor and disciple us. These are those such as Elisha had Elijah to look up to, Joshua had Moses and Ruth had Naomi. I often tell my members that everyone ought to disciple and be discipled. Who’s discipling you? Who is encouraging you towards greatness? Who is holding you accountable? We all need people in our lives who we RUN TO.
Next, we need people who we RUN WITH. These are our friends who we need to keep us on the straight and narrow. These are our spouses with whom we press for the prize of the high calling of God. We all need people who’s shoulders we can cry on, problems we can talk about, and encouragement we can both give and receive.
Finally, we have people in our lives that we RUN FOR. We should all be modeling living a Godly life. There are those who are looking at us that we are aware of and many more who are watching us that we don’t even realize. These are often those with whom we’ve had relationships before coming into a relationship with Jesus. We have a commission or calling of God to live for God on their behalf. It’s part of the Great Commission. We should lead people to know God for themselves and encourage to live a life according to His will. That’s discipling. We model this for friends, co-workers, classmates, and even our children who will one day have to make a personal decision for God for themselves.
So keep running. And while you’re running this race of life, always have someone that you RUN FOR, RUN WITH and RUN TO.
JEHOVAH-WHO?
Can you name all of the seven dwarfs. Here’s my honest attempt without googling them. There’s Grumpy, Sleepy, and I’m done. Through the magic of the internet I can affirmatively declare that the names are Doc, Grumpy, Happy, Sleepy, Bashful, Sneezy, and Dopey. O.k. I was pretty bad. I admit it. Each name describes the characteristics of that dwarf. Sleepy is always sleepy, Doc was a doctor, Happy was always happy, Sneezy was just nasty and Dopey was kind of dumb. Their names spoke to their character.
When God speaks to Moses from the burning bush, Moses asks God what His name is. God replies YHWH from which we get the name that we commonly use today, JEHOVAH. From that point on throughout the Old Testament, additional names were added to the name JEHOVAH which we call the compound names of God. There is Jehovah-Jireh which means God is my Provider, Jehovah-Nissi which is God is my Banner and Jehovah-Rophe which means The Lord is my Healer.
In total there are 7 compound names of god. But if we examine the stories of how those names were given, we’ll find out that they were all associated with some story of how God performed some particular miracle for those His people. When he provided for Abraham a ram to substitute in the place of his son Isaac for a sacrifice, Abraham began to call him Jehovah-Jireh. When God protects the children of Israel in battle Moses names Him Jehovah-Nissi. After Gideon had an experience with God he called Him Jehova-Shalom. His names spoke to His character.
Now this idea of these compound names being given by people is not true in every case. For instance, when God healed the children of Israel while they were in the wilderness he calls Himself Jehovah-Rophe, “for I am the God who heals you.” However, even this name was associated with something God did. Think about a time in your life when God did something amazing. I’m talking about the kind of miracle that left no doubt in your mind at all about the greatness of God.
Got it? Now name Him. I know. He has a name. But the same way that those in the bible related God to a particular event, you can too! What would you name Him? Jehovah-Made a Way? Jehovah Delivered-Me? Jehovah-Came Through in a Clutch? You see the names of God were given as a memorial. We all have those moments where it feels like God isn’t there. It is precisely during those time when we need something to remind us that the same God who was there for us back then is the same God who is here for us now. This is why it’s important for us to not only know the names of God as described in God’s word, but that we have a name for God that is very personal to us. These names serve as reminder of the Light of God when we are experiencing the dark moments in life.
So go ahead. Name Him. To me He’s Jehovah-Orders my Steps.