O Lord of Heaven’s Armies, what joy for those who trust in you.
Psalm 84:12 (NLT)
Have you ever taken the time to look up what your name means? If not, you should do it sometime. It’s much easier than in days past when you had to go to a library and find a book to do some research. Now, a simple Google search will give you some clues about what your name indicates about you. For example, when you Google my name (Chad) one of the definitions is: “Battle, Warrior.”[1] Of course, in many respects, I’m a lover, not a fighter. But, yes, I can throw down over the things that are important in life, such as my faith, family, and friends.
Of course, in modern society, we often times don’t give a lot of thought to the meaning behind names when we stick one upon our babies. For example, both my kids have names that we just thought “sounded right.”
But, back in the times of the Bible, and in many cultures around the world still today, names were carefully chosen to represent a characteristic of the person or for a historical event that had happened. This is true not just for people, but also for God. Though in western civilization we often just use the generic “God,” or Jesus, or Father, or Lord, in the Scriptures, God has a ton of names – each one demonstrating a characteristic about who God is and how He relates to us.
In our verse today, we see one of those names, “Lord of Heaven’s Armies.” In our English language, this evokes images of power – a mighty warrior. In the Hebrew, this translates to: “Yahweh Saba” which means “Lord of those who wage war.” Pretty cool, right?
Additionally, this verse comes with a promise in this name. It says, “what joy for those who trust in you.” In other words, when we trust in the power of the God who commands the warrior angels, and not our own, we find joy. Let me put it another way, when we stop trying to save ourselves and let God do His job, we find everlasting joy. He is the warrior, not us.
So, today, and every day, put your trust in the power of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Rest secure in His power, glory, and strength.
[1] https://www.thenamemeaning.com/chad/
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