He Knows Your Name

" And He calleth His own sheep by name, and leadeth them out."   John 10:3b

A Sunday school teacher was trying to help her class of young children memorize the Lord's Prayer. She thought they were doing very well until she heard one little boy. He began praying, " Our Father which art in heaven, how'd You know my name?"

Much like that little boy, my finite mind often struggles to comprehend that the Infinite God of the universe, the Creator of everything, knows my name.

In the summer of 2012, I visited Washington, D.C., and toured the Holocaust Museum. There were no guided tours. Visitors are given a booklet resembling a passport that tells the story of one Holocaust prisoner. At the end of the tour, the fate of the prisoner is revealed - victim or survivor. The atrocities Hitler and his Nazi army inflicted upon the Jewish people are almost more than the human mind can grasp.

There was one particular exhibit that had the most profound effect upon me. Some of the Jews were taken to Majdanek, a prison camp in Poland. Eight hundred thousand pairs of shoes were taken from those Jews. Thousands of the shoes have been loaned to the National Museum in Washington.  

As I stood in that room tinged with the faint smell of rubber, looking at piles of shoes, the victims became more to me than a number or a tragic statistic. Each pair of shoes had a story to tell. I looked at tiny, baby shoes and in my mind, I could see a young mother being herded into a train car, carrying a crying, frightened baby as she tried to comfort it. There are men's work shoes and every pair representing a father or husband going off to work for his family. There are Mary Janes that some happy, carefree Jewish girl wore to school or synagogue.

The women's shoes reveal the cruel deception by the enemy. Many of them are elegant high heels. Young wives and single girls had worn their best shoes because they had been told they would be building new lives somewhere in the east. To the unfeeling Nazis that made them strip off their shoes, each victim was just a number. But as I stood there that day, I knew that God knew every one of them.

He knows the gender and name of every baby. He knows the name of every father, mother, grandparent, son, or daughter. He knows the name of every woman who wore her best because she thought she was going to a better life. They are not numbers nor nameless victims. Every pair of shoes represents a human being, and God knows their name.

God knows your name; He knows your address. He knows your problems, burdens, pain, and your sorrow. He knows your dreams, desires, needs, and your prayers. You are not invisible, and you are not just filling space; God knows exactly where you are.

"The eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous and His ears are open unto their cry."   Psalm 34:15

On the day Jesus Christ arose from the grave, He changed the lives of two individuals with just the mention of their names.

The first one was Mary Magdalene. She had been an outcast of society, a broken, ruined woman possessed by seven demon spirits. The type of woman that respectable Jewish men and women would have avoided. But, Jesus Christ saved her, released her from the power of Satan, and made her a brand new creation. Mary was so grateful; she devoted her life to following Him.

We can only imagine the pain, shock, and disbelief Mary Magdalene felt as she watched Him die. That Sabbath morning, she went to the tomb early. When she found the tomb empty, her grief was more than she could bear. She thought someone had moved His body. Jesus appeared to Mary and addressed her, but she doesn't recognize Him until He utters one word -- "Mary!"

When He spoke her name, darkness turned to light, despair to joy, and her world was made right again. Society would have thrown her on the garbage heap, yet Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene and gave her the honor of spreading the good news of His resurrection.

"Now when Jesus was risen early on the first day of the week, He appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast seven demons."  Mark 16:9

The second life that was changed that day was the Apostle Peter. On that Sunday morning, Peter was a broken soul. The boastful words he had so confidently spoken to Jesus must have kept playing over and over in his mind. He had promised his Master to follow Him to death, yet at the first test, he had failed miserably. Peter not only abandoned his Lord, he denied even knowing Him. Ministry was a thing of the past. There was nothing left for him to do but go back to what he knew best, fishing.

Peter had no idea, but that morning, an angel sent him a personal message from Jesus Christ at an empty tomb.

"And He saith unto them, be not affrighted: Ye seek Jesus of Nazareth, which was crucified: He is risen; He is not here: behold the place where they laid Him. But go your way, tell His disciples  and   Peter  that He goeth before you into Galilee: there shall ye see Him, as He said unto you."  Mark 16:6-7

He knows your name!

Why did the angel specifically add the words "and Peter?" Because in Peter's eyes, he was washed up. His actions had disqualified him from being a disciple of Christ. Jesus knew Peter inside and out. He knew Peter would never have responded if the invitation had been issued "for disciples only."

In the June 14, 1968 issue of  LIFE  magazine, a picture of young David Kennedy had been taken by his Aunt Jacqueline and was inscribed by his Uncle John with the words: "A future president inspects his property --John Kennedy."

The world tells us that success depends upon "who" you know. David Kennedy came from one of the wealthiest, most prominent families in America. Yet, sadly, in 1984, David was found dead by his own hand at the age of twenty-eight.

For a Christian, the opposite is true. The majority of us will never know the rich, famous, and influential people of the world, but that pales in comparison to the glorious truth that the King of Kings, Jesus Christ, knows our name!

The story of Mary Magdalene and Peter reveals that He's a God that restores, rebuilds, redeems, and reconciles. He supplies strength to the weary, gives the light in the darkness, and offers hope to the hopeless.

He's the God of the second chance; He's the God of the  NO  chance.

Let not your heart be troubled --- He knows your name!