My wife’s name is Teresa. Everyone who knows her knows her by that name. But I know her in a different way. I know her by names that no one else knows. There are certain names I have given her through the fifty years of our marriage that only I am privy to. I don’t only know her by her name, but I know her experientially. Some of the names I have given her were born out of circumstances that have arisen in our experiences of life. They are known only to me and her and are private terms of endearment that only we know.

God has chosen to make Himself known to us through His progressive self-revelation in His Word, the Bible. As we read through the pages of Scripture, we come to these designations of God through which He revealed more of Himself to people during certain circumstances and situations in which they needed a new, more intimate name of the Most High God. It is through those names that we come to know Him personally, intimately, and experientially.

There are many renditions of the story I am about to share, but all of them are about the same thing. Please read the following story slowly and prayerfully.

The banquet hall was filled. To speak for the occasion, a renowned orator had been brought in. After a wonderful meal, he mesmerized the crowd with his voice as he recited poetry and famous selections of speeches.

Near the end of the program, he asked if anyone had a favorite selection that they would like for him to recite. From the back of the room, an old man stood up and kindly asked if he would mind reciting the 23rd Psalm. The speaker said that he would be glad to do it if, when he was finished, the old man would recite it as well. The old gentleman nodded his head and sat back down.

In a beautifully trained voice that resonated throughout the great room, the speaker began, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in green pastures…” When he was finished, there was thunderous applause and a standing ovation.

He then looked at the old man and said, “All right sir, it is your turn now.”
In a trembling voice that was cracked by time, the old man began to recite, “The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want…” It is said that when he was finished, there was no applause, but neither was there a dry eye in the building.

After the event, someone asked the famous speaker what he thought produced the different responses in the crowd. The speaker paused, thought for a moment and said, “I know the 23rd Psalm, but that man knows the shepherd. That makes all the difference.”

Copied from “Streams n’ Stirrings”, April 22, 2015

There is a huge difference between knowing the Bible and knowing the author of the Bible. Over the next few weeks, I am going to share some of the different names of God as presented in Scripture, with the prayer that by doing so we will not only learn more about God, but that we will know God more.

Until next time:

Blessings!