During the difficult times in my life I find I am on my knees before God crying out to Him more than ever. It’s during those times that I often call out on the various names of God to help remind me while praying that He is our provider, comforter, strength, etc. But there is one name for God that we can’t find anywhere in the Old Testament. One name for God that if we understand it and how it applies to us, it will change the way we look at our life and even the current situation you might be struggling through.
Throughout the Old Testament, 4 major characteristics of God emerge. First, He is Sovereign. God is above and over all things. Psalm 24:1 says, “The earth is the Lord’s and all its fullness, The world and those who dwell therein.” God is not limited by anything and has absolute rule and authority over all. Second, He is holy. This means that God does what is right every time and does it with the right intention. Psalm 24:3 says, “Who may ascend into the hill of the Lord? Or who may stand in His holy place?” He is a holy God who never slips up and always does what is right. Hard to fathom isn’t it? It’s like trying to fathom the fact that God has no beginning! Additionally, He is omniscient, meaning He knows everything; He has perfect and complete knowledge of anything that has or will ever happen. Isaiah 40:13 says, “Who has directed the Spirit of the Lord, Or as His counselor has taught Him?” God knows all about all and is not limited by anything. He knows every sickness we will ever have, who your future spouse will be, even the names of your kids before you ever hope to have them. Finally, God is immutable, meaning He is never going to change, He is always the same.
Doesn’t this bother some of you though? Isn’t it frustrating that God knows everything you do? If God knows all and has the power to create all, then I can only be lead to believe that God, if He wanted, could rescue us out of all the difficult things we are going through. He could heal us from any disease, restore any marriage or relationship, provide food for the hungry, and even stop the natural disasters from killing so many people. So why doesn’t He? Why are we in some of the extremely difficult situations that we are?
Well Jesus, during the most difficult and trying time of His life cries out to God, His Father, as we can observe from Mark 14:32-36. He is about to be crucified, and while in the garden of Gethsemane He prays and becomes deeply troubled and distressed. This was the hardest part of His life, His sorrow became so great that He fell to the ground. When Jesus called out to God, He called Him, “Abba Father.” This name, Abba Father, is a name that we all have to know, it’s so important in knowing who God is. It’s a name that no other faith system in the world includes and a name that would have been highly offensive to the Old Testament Hebrew. The name Abba Father is only used three times throughout the entire New Testament and all three times it was used by Jesus.
The name ‘Abba Father’ literally means daddy. We can call upon God by every other name known throughout the Old Testament, but Jesus sheds light in Mark 14 about a way we are to view God, that until we see Him in this way, we will never know fully who He is. I know that for some of my readers, the analogy/metaphor of a daddy isn’t great, as some of you have had absent or difficult times with your father. But with the ideal, the perfect model of a father, we can understand God and how He deals with the situations we are in. After Jesus calls God daddy, He says in verse 36, “...all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but what You will” (Mk.14:36). Jesus is basically saying, I know you got me daddy, I know you’re there, but would you take this from me? But if not, I’ll submit. Now the Father had a compelling reason for not taking away the cross- salvation. Jesus had to go through the cross to get to us so that we can now receive everlasting life. Any other way would have not been possible.
Leadership Lesson Of The Week: "Define yourself radically as one beloved by God. This is the true self. Every other identity is illusion." -Brennen Manning, Ruthless Trust
