He Knows My (Your) Name

According to the Exodus narrative, Moses was on the backside of the desert, minding the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, when he came to Horeb, to the mountain of God. Suddenly, he saw a flame of fire in the midst of a bush that though burning was not consumed. Marveling at the "great sight" and being perplexed as to why the bush was not burnt, his curiosity got the better of it and he approached the flame. The writer tells us, "And when the LORD saw that he turned aside to see, God called unto him out of the midst of the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground" (3:4-5, KJV).

While the rest of the story is familiar to most of us, and undoubtedly there have been numerous messages preached on this portion of the Scriptures, in reflecting on the text it occurred to me that this was the very first recorded encounter between God and Moses. The detail that really caught my attention was the fact that God called Moses by his name. In other words, He knew him on a personal level and knew exactly where to find him when He needed him. Bible Expositor John Gill observes, "The Lord knows his people distinctly, and can call them by name; ... the repetition of his name [Moses, Moses] ... shows familiarity and a strong vehement affection for him." We are not told if Moses was surprised at the sound of the voice, especially one calling his name, but we know he answered "Here am I." Chances are good that most of us would have been out of there as fast as our legs could carry us, but after seeing a bush burning without being burnt, Moses could be excused for not being intimidated by a voice. His experience has given every child of God a reason to rejoice; God knows us by name and no matter where we are, He knows where to find us.

Given that there are over six billion people on planet earth, that is a sobering thought. We can rest assured that despite what we are going through, His eyes are tracking us. This is the same God who said to Jeremiah, "Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee" (1:5), and if He knew him and us even then, it is nothing to Him that He knows our names. It also means that despite the best efforts of the enemy to tell us otherwise, we are never forgotten by Him.

Be encouraged. As you go through your day, if you listen really closely you too just might hear Him calling your name.