Reverencing the Name of God

by David Gibson

I once overheard an older woman ask a middle-aged man as he entered the post office, “Are they closed?” “Lord, no!” he said. “They ain’t closed.”

In a Dallas hospital waiting room, several women were passing the time in conversation. One of them mentioned that a certain man they knew was 38. “God Almighty!” one of the other women exclaimed in surprise. Later one of the group said, “O God, yeah, we used to run with each other all the time.”

These remarks are all too typical these days. The use of “God,” “Lord” and variations thereof are so commonplace that hardly anyone seems to think much about it.

That’s the problem. People don’t think. They speak of God without really thinking of Him. God’s name is used not to refer to Him in a proper manner or to appeal to Him in prayer, but His name is employed to express surprise or dismay — and sometimes it is used merely as verbal filler.

How do you suppose God feels about hearing His name being used so trivially and irreverently?

Careless speech often betrays a careless heart. How can we pray, “Hallowed be thy name,” and then misuse His name the next time we feel the need to vent our emotions?

I am indebted to an article on this subject for calling my attention to the following passage: “Then those who feared the LORD spoke to one another, and the LORD gave attention and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for those who fear the LORD and esteem His name” (Malachi 3:16 NASB).

Holy and awesome is His name” (Psalms 111:9).

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