Know You By Name (Exodus 33:17)

 


Thursday, May 22, 2025


Psalm 51

Exodus 33:1-17

John 13:1-11


Know You By Name (Exodus 33:17)


And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favour in my sight, and I know you by name.”


These first books of the Bible are useful for us because they tell us a whole lot about where we have come from, and why things are the way they are. One can imagine the family sitting around the dinner table after the plates have been cleared away, and the children asking the parents “where did we come from?”, and the parents answering in the words of Genesis 1:1 “In the beginning, God”.


Today’s passage from Exodus gives us another Genesis story: it tells us the reason why God sticks with us our whole life, even though we often give him plenty of good reasons not to.


If we are the children sitting around with our parents and asking them “why” and “how come” type questions about God’s abiding presence with us, then our answer begins “once upon a time there was a man, and his name was Moses”. This Moses did one thing: he asked God to stay close. And so, we can know that God stays close, because we ask him to.


But what about the Israelites? They didn’t ask God to come close; they let Moses do the talking for them. And they were a pretty naughty bunch, all things considered. So what about someone who asks God on our behalf, when we are being so naughty we don’t bother to ask ourselves? Once again, once upon a time, there was a man. His name was Jesus. And he is alive, and sits at the right hand of God the Father, and he is always talking about how much he wants us to be close to God, and God to be close to us.


We have a God who sticks with us, simply because we ask: this is what it means to love. And we have a God who is mightily in favour of us staying close: this is what it means for Christ to be our intercessor. He knows each of us by name, and has written those names in his book of life. We need not fear the journey, because through Christ we have found favour in God’s sight, and he knows us by name.


Where do you sense God’s nearer presence? How do you pray for God to lead you?


God who knows our name: remain with us, so that we may always know of the favour we have found in your sight by faith in Christ, and finally be led to your paradise.

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