Romans 10:13 (NRSV)
Read Romans 10:13 on biblegateway.com
Verse 13For, "Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved."
Devotion
“Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.” The second stage of the examination of conscience is to name one’s brokenness. The third is to call on the name of God to heal that brokenness. Names have power. The masters of African slaves took away the slaves’ ancestral names and gave them Western names. Concentration camp inmates had their names replaced with numbers. How deflated and unimportant we feel when someone forgets our name! When Moses wanted to know God’s name, God answered with the puzzling ehyeh-asher-ehyeh: “I-will-be-there-howsoever-I-will-be-there”. Orthodox Jews call God simply Ha-Shem: the Name. We do not know God’s name. We have no power over God; we do not magically conjure God’s presence by saying God’s name. And yet God’s promise is clear: I-will-be-there. And that is the name on which we call.
Prayer
O God of the desert, you have promised to be present to us in times of trouble. May we remember to call on your name also in times of joy. Amen.