I am working through a Bible study. Most of it is formatted with journaling and short answers, but there were also sections of fill-in-the-blanks. In most studies, those blanks are filled with words found in the Bible, looking up specific verses and writing key words in the blanks to emphasize them. However, one section was different. There was a pattern. Each and every blank was filled with God’s name. Each sentence was powerful, but the combination of the six emphasized the truth in the promises claimed.
Such a simple exercise, filling blanks with God’s name and claiming the truth of his promises and provision over and over. I was intentional as I wrote. It was not merely an exercise. I read each statement aloud. The power in the truth of what I was reading and writing paused me. I sensed filling in God’s name as more powerful than filling any other blank in a study. And I prayed, “May I not fill the wrong blanks with God’s name.”
We might be concerned about filling blanks with the wrong content, getting the wrong answer. That’s the main concern during school assignments. This is different. It wasn’t about the wrong content; it was a concern for not using the right content in the wrong context. I don’t want to use God’s name in the wrong spaces and places, not on paper but in my life. I don’t want to claim God promises, provides, or purposes in ways that he doesn’t. I don’t want to claim he rubber stamps what I do. I am not the source. I need to look to him and let everything flow from him through me. I don’t even want to start with his truth but apply it with my own methods.
I don’t want to insert his name as a nod. That’s backward. I only want to position his name where it belongs because of who he says he is and what he says he will do.
I know that is always the best answer.
Pure Purpose 