“Because she loves me, says the Lord,
I will rescue her; I will protect her,
For she acknowledges my name.
She will call upon me, and I will answer her;
I will be with her in trouble,
I will deliver her and honor her.
With long life I will satisfy her
And show her my salvation.”

Psalm 91:14-16 is another scripture that clings to my desk because when the hard comes, we cling to the promises He has spoken. Inserting the pronoun “she”, or even better your name, allows the powerful impact of a truth to reverberate deep in your chest. When He spoke these words of assurance, He had you on His heart. Go ahead. Reread those words from God with your name inserted. When you hear the Lover of your Soul speaking face-to-face with you, goosebumps, right? Let’s linger on this Psalm for awhile.

These words speak covenant: a “conditional” promise from God. We have a role in covenant. But be assured the only way we accomplish our part is through His grace. God supplies the wisdom and gumption to accomplish what He asks.

In this “if we do _____ , God will do  _____ ”, we note three things on our blank and eight on His. Our part challenges us to love Him, to know His name, and to call on Him. 

She loves me. There are many shades and depths to “love”. Here the color reflects strong affection and loyalty, including hues of great desire and attachment, and the only place in scripture painting man’s commitment to God as “cleaving” (adhering closely, clinging to). We are talking about more than a come and go, “yeah, He’s pretty cool” attitude. He desires that we love Him with a desperate, clinging, passion.

She knows my name. To acknowledge His name emphasizes knowledge of who He is and having an awareness of His character and nature. We learn these by studying what the Word says about Him. But a heart-deep knowing comes from experiencing Him, through an intimate, continual walk by His side. Daily communing with God produces a deep awareness of His presence and His character.

She will call upon Me. Our calls to Him may be exhilarated shouts of joy or eruptions of deep frustration. His name escapes as a barely audible whisper from deep anguish or a steady chant of courage as we stare into our deepest fears. Whatever hard we confront, calling on His name acknowledges and proclaims God as our redeemer, our help, our healer, our protector, our answer.

These three elements, interlocked and working in a cycle, bore deeper and deeper into the heart of God. The more we call on Him, the more we experience Him. The more we experience Him, the deeper we love Him. The more we love Him, the more we trust Him. The more we trust Him, the more we will call on Him.

Love Him. Know Him. Call on Him. How do you spark the cycle? Open your heart to His love for you. Open the Word to learn of Him. Open your world to Him, telling Him all about the hard you’re working through right now and calling on Him to help you. 

Next time, we continue meditating on these verses, focusing on His response to our three actions of loving, knowing, calling. Grasping the truth of His promises, we want to cling to Him until nothing will be able to pry us from His side nor separate us from the depth and width of His love that He longs to pour over us.

 Photo by Ben White on Unsplash