Call on the Name of the Lord

J.J. Stark

May 30, 2016

Field Time: Browning, MT

IGNITE Class 10

Inductive Bible Study

Call on the Name of the Lord

“For ‘“whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”’” – Romans 10:13 (NKJV)

A picture of David comes to mind in studying this verse, and the defeats he experienced in his life.  To me the times he was lowest, hiding in caves or among the Philistines, or his family turmoil, are when David’s life truly embodies calling on the name of the Lord.  The Psalms penned in result capture the very essence of full reliance on God.  Psalm 18:1-6 beautifully elevates Christ as Lord and Savior.  David, surrendering to and adoring Yahweh, says: “¹I will love You, O Lord, my strength.  ²The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.  ³I will call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised; so shall I be saved from my enemies.  ⁴The pangs of death surrounded me, and the floods of ungodliness made me afraid.  ⁵The sorrows of Sheol surrounded me; the snares of death confronted me.  ⁶In my distress I call upon the Lord, and cried out to my God; He heard my voice from His temple, and my cry came before Him, even to His ears.” 

Even though I have never experienced anything like that of David, these are the kinds of words I cling to, especially when faced with temptations and trials.  He speaks similarly again in Psalm 119:33-40, and in calling upon the Lord this is my prayer: “³³Teach me, O Lord, the way of Your statues…³⁴ Give me understanding…³⁶Incline my heart to Your testimonies, and not to covetousness.  ³⁷Turn my eyes from looking at worthless things, and revive me in Your way.  ³⁹Turn away my reproach which I dread, For Your judgements are good.  ⁴⁰Behold, I long for Your precepts; revive me in Your righteousness.”

God the Father is all-powerful, knowing, and discerning, and is His ways are unknown to man.  This is the salvation message: because His continuous desire is creation restored back to Him from sin’s destruction, God the Son, Jesus Christ, came down to this earth to pay the eternal price of sin and become the saving redemption for all who call on His name.  As the Lord’s adopted child through salvation, I, in continual crying out to Him as my All in All, can walk in the assurance the apostle Paul wrote in letters to the church in Corinth: “No temptation has overtaken you except such as is common to man; but God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will also make the way of escape, that you may be able to bear it,” and, “⁸We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair, ⁹persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed – ¹⁰always carrying about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our body.  ¹¹For we who live are always delivered to death for Jesus’ sake, that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.”  (1 Cor. 10:13 & 2 Cor. 4:8-11)

Application:  I will write down Romans 10:13 to remind me to continually call on the Lord for everything.