‘I Have Called You By Name, You Are Mine’ by Myra Kahn Adams for Town Hall
Author’s Note: Readers can find all previous volumes of this series here. The first 56 volumes are compiled into the book “Bible Study For Those Who Don’t Read The Bible.” Part Two, featuring volumes 57-113, will be published later this year.
Last week, a friend received a “Divine message” and I share it with her permission. The message she heard was from the Hebrew Bible — a partial verse from Isaiah 43:
“I have called you by your name.” The complete verse reads:
Now is your chance to support Gospel News Network.
We love helping others and believe that’s one of the reasons we are chosen as Ambassadors of the Kingdom, to serve God’s children. We look to the Greatest Commandment as our Powering force.
“But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: “‘Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine'” (Isaiah 43:1).
In my NIV Study Bible, the Isaiah 43 chapter subhead reads: “Israel’s Only Savior.” Later, we will read some inspirational, praise-worthy, and warning verses from that chapter — the Word of God conveyed through the prophet Isaiah. But first, the personal journal entry describing the Divine message received by my friend during her recent visit to a holy place associated with Jesus.
Writing me, she prefaced her entry: “This is the excerpt from my personal journaling that day.” It read:
“When I really stop to contemplate the infinite God, it seems impossible that He would want to have a personal relationship with ME. That He would speak to ME.
“Yesterday, the day before I went to [the holy place] I decided to set aside the next day for Him – to spend the day in prayer, contemplation, fasting, quiet reflection – no cell phone, no distractions. I turned my phone to ‘do not disturb’ last night, with no need of an alarm anyway.
“I awoke to an audible voice, speaking in the softest of tones, ‘I have called you by your name.’ I was wide awake and sat up in bed. It repeated. ‘I have called you by your name.’ I don’t know how to explain the physical, tangible mechanism of this except to say that I also FELT it, as a movement in my heart.
“Later that day, sitting in the quiet space of [holy place], I heard it again. A whisper this time. And the same tug on my heart that brought a rush of tears to my eyes.
