Day 18: To Know His Name
Read: Psalm 9:9–12
And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.
— Psalm 9:10 (ESV)
Reflect
"Those who know your name put their trust in you." Notice the order. Knowing comes first. Trust follows.
The phrase "those who know" is yodhe'ei, and you could translate it almost as a title: "the knowers of your name." But this is not the kind of knowing you get from a textbook. In Hebrew, "to know" is often relational. It is the word used when "Adam knew Eve his wife" (Genesis 4:1), and when God says to Israel, "You only have I known of all the families of the earth" (Amos 3:2). It is knowing by closeness, by shared life, by experience over time.
So "knowing his name" means more than knowing that God is called the LORD. In the Bible, a name carries character. To know God's name is to have learned, by living with him, what kind of God he is. Faithful. Merciful. Present.
That is why trust follows. You trust people you have walked with. You lean on someone whose character you have tested over years. The same is true with God. The more you have actually lived in his faithfulness, the more naturally you lean your weight on him.
Trust is what knowing grows into.
Across Scripture
God revealed his name to Moses at the burning bush (Exodus 3:13–15) and later proclaimed it: "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious" (Exodus 34:5–7). Psalm 91:14 promises protection to the one who "knows my name." Jesus prayed, "And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent" (John 17:3).
Sit With It
What part of God's character have you only learned about, and not yet lived?
Pray
Let me know your name by living in it.
Scripture quotations are from the ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®), © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.