GOD’S WORD FOR AUGUST 6 ~ ~ Psalm 48:10 ~ ~ “According to Your name, O God, So is Your praise to the ends of the earth; Your right hand is full of righteousness.”

“The Power of God’s Names” by Dr. Tony Evans

Have you ever made anyone try to define you? This is the person who tries to tell you who you are without truly getting to know you first. Many people attempt to do this very thing with God. They use His name, yet their use is inconsistent with His nature. This equates to using His name in vain. That’s why if you place your hand on the Bible in a court of law and swear to tell the “truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth,” and you tell a lie, you perjure yourself. What you’ve done is inconsistent with God’s character and God’s name. You have used God’s name in vain.

For a good Biblical illustration of using God’s name in vain, consider the serpent in the Garden of Eden. He asked Eve, “Has God said…..? (Genesis 3:1b). the devil didn’t have any problem bringing up God’s name. In fact, he knew he wouldn’t get very far with Adam or Eve if he left God out of the discussion altogether. But he used God’s name in vain. He used it falsely.

From Genesis 2:4 through 3:1a, God is referred to as “the Lord God” (JEHOVAH ELOHIM). As we will see later, ELOHIM references God’s creative powers, and JEHOVAH references God’s relational authority to mankind. Satan omitted the name that referred to God’s authority over humanity and just used the term God. This is because he aimed to use God’s name for his own purposes and not God’s, like any people do.

They also will attribute various sayings to scripture, such as “God helps those who help themselves” or “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” Taking God’s name in vain goes much further than a sailor swearing or a teenager saying “Oh my God” every few moments.

To take God’s name in vain is to define God by our own wishes and desires rather than to know Him as he defines Himself.

We want a God we can easily understand—a God we can neatly display on a bumper sticker or a coffee mug. But God will not be confined to our little genie bottles. His names reflect His power, and His power is accessed only by knowing who He truly is, not by affirming who WE want Him to be. To know God’s names is to know His power.

But you only get His power when you know the Great I Am Who I Am. A lot of people use God’s name today the same way the devil did in the garden—in vain. If we don’t attach His name to His character, we will only perpetuate the chaos that the devil ushered in when he made his first attack on humanity. Like Satan, we will be trying to redefine God by misusing His names.

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