Fasting & Prayer - Day 10 - Name Above All Names

Name Above All Names - Today's Theme.  What does this mean actually - really - literally?  I sing the song Your Name but what does it mean for me when Proverbs says so poetically and beautifully:

Proverbs 18:10 (NKJV)
10 The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
The righteous run to it and are safe.


Pardon my literalism here, but I cannot RUN or ESCAPE into a sentence.  And believe me, there are many times I crave escape.  Sugar is the escape for tiredness, vacations/getaways the escape for the moments my life dips too far into 'sameness', lashing out verbally seems the escape for frustrated and disappointed plans.  There seems no end of things, feelings, activities I use to escape.

Weeks go by, I meditate on this song, on the verse that inspires it.  During periods of daily stress, I repeat the verse and watch for its effect on me.

Then one early-November day my thoughts are drawn to Moses' experience in the desert in Exodus that starts in Chapter 33.  It is a quiet plea - almost plainitive.  Moses is pleading to see the face of his Friend.  The biblical account is beautiful as the two friends engage and tahe request is granted.  Has it occurred to you that the Creator is not the same as the created?  Jesus - in this moment - physiologically is not the same as Moses, He is not made of dust.  He has not yet been incarnated as a baby in a womb.

Jesus passes by with only His back visible to Moses, the experience physiologically is so profound that Moses states what he sees:  “The name of the Lord” is “merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, ... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Exodus 34:5-7.  In a moment of physical sight, Moses experiences profound glorious feeling!

We know we walk by faith and not by sight; we know we are not to trust our feelings because the heart is deceptive above all things. Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked;
Who can know it?"  

And yet - the fullness of Jesus' revelation to Moses is based on sight AND feeling!  

My strong tower run looks something like this - I close my eyes, I imagine myself racing into the tower or into Jesus big strong arms of love.  I remind myself that safe within His love I need have no fear because He is merciful, gracious, long-suffering or patient, abundant in goodness and truth, forgiving everything (iniquity/transgression/sin)!  In these moments I am confronted with the source of my angst - anger at disappointed expectations, frustration at changes to my plans or incursions of evil into my life, the list seems infinite.

Much like a couch-to-5K or any 'K' program, the exercise gets easier with repetition.  And by 'easier' I mean - the feeling grows.  I am walking by faith, but relying on Jesus as my strong tower, resting in His name is a continual source of joy, of peace, of blessed stillness.

Thank You Jesus that the Creator is different from the created.  Thank You for drawing me to Yourself with cords of love, into Your eternal reality, for offering me safe haven while I'm living on this sinful planet.  Thank You that Your Name is beautiful, holy and all powerful...