Men Who Call on the Name of the Lord

January 8, 2006

How can you pick one thing to encourage people about when you have read 24 chapters in one week? It is hard; there is so much. But my eyes were set upon one phrase in Genesis 4:26 "At that time people began to call upon the name of the Lord." This is particularly good because we are reading through the words of God. Though that does not mean that we are necessarily calling upon the name of the Lord, it is a good step. To call on Him would be to be seeking an answer, a response from the most High. Why would these men do this except that they were looking for something more than just this life? All the rest are drinking and eating and marrying and being given in marriage, but these men found time for something else. We ought not to think that they were less busy than other men, for those other men also would later build high temples and the tower of Babel even (and certainly drunkards if drink is available will avail themselves to it and stay busy). No, these men were as busy as other men, just as we. And from the sound of the verse, it was a task that was not a one day thing, but a beginning of a large task, one that would take the focus of their lives for the rest of their lives.

A passionate pursuit of God. To call upon Him, to wait for His response and to build a relationship with Him. That was an activity worth doing! And it is so today. God is the One who saw the first ray of light, the first wave, the first star twinkle. He saw the first blossom of the first flower and the first sunrise and first sunset. He is the One who wrote Life and a book for us to understand what life is for. Why should you or I be allowed to know Him?

As we have read through Genesis to chapter 20, have we noticed the things that God did to make Himself known? He flooded the whole earth and gave warning with a boat that took Noah one hundred years to build (end of chp 5 he is 500, vs 6 of chp 7 he is 600). If one hundred years of warning is not enough, what do we expect? We have read of Sodom and Gomorrah, when the town was so wicked that all the men of Sodom came to rape two angels in human form who just entered into the town. But sadly they do not repent or call upon the name of the Lord and are consumed in fire and brimstone (notice we don't really know where Sodom and Gomorrah are to this day). But I am sure they had known of the flood and knew why. Romans 1 tells us that men are not ignorant of God, but rather hate Him. That is also what Psalm 2 said, the kings of the earth want nothing to do with the Ownership of God. And in the climax of history, Purity and Virtue and Majesty came down in the flesh of men. And what did the men of this earth do to the Messiah? Murdered Him. We, as a human race--as sinners, murdered the Holy One.

Yet, despite that this is natural heart of men, there is a supernatural heart that is given to men. God calls men and they seek after Him. John 6:37 says that "All that the Father gives me will come to me". Let us be thankful that the Father has given men of old to Jesus, men who are obedient to Acts 2:21 "everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." They set for us an excellent example and God preserved a record so we could be encouraged. Faith in the one true God is not a new faith; it is the oldest. And if you or I call upon the name of the Lord, let us give thanks to God -for He alone changes hearts and causes men from old and new to call upon Him. How great is the God of Noah, Enoch ("walked with God and was not for God took him" Gen. 5:24), Seth, and Abel!

calling and waiting with you.