Many names in Scripture have a specific meaning.
Jacob means “Heel grabber.”
He was named this because when he was born,
his hand was on the heel of his twin brother, Esau.
By the way, Esau means “Hairy.”
He was born with thick red hair.
Saul stands for “inquired of God.”
Ruth denotes companion and friend.
Gideon means destroyer.
Phoebe signifies radiant, pure.
Timothy indicates honor given to God.
And Matthew means gift of God.
By the way, Walter isn’t mentioned in the Bible,
but in case you’re wondering, it means “ruler of the army.”
Seems as though the Old Testament had several of those,
but they were called David, Jephthah, Gideon, Saul and other names.
But no Walters.
There are two names in the Bible that seem to be incredibly
significant, and they stand in stark contrast to one another:
Immanuel and Ichabod.
Ichabod means “The Glory of God Has Departed”
and “No Glory.”
What mom would name her son that?
Well . . . Ichabod’s mom.
She was saturated in grief.
Steeped in defeat.
Living in a horrific situation.
And she allowed her circumstances to define her son.
We, too, often fight the temptation of allowing our
current situation to have naming rights for our tomorrows.
But there is another name: Immanuel.
And experiencing His glory involves transformation.
Worship.
Obedience.
A divine turnaround.
We have a choice.
We can let our circumstances determine our lives,
or we can use our lives—empowered by God—
to change our circumstances.
We can choose to let His glory transform us from the inside out.
Immanuel or Ichabod?
There’s a lot more to this story!
Because of limited space, I only gave you
a few chopped-up pieces here.
If you’d like to get your hands on this story—
plus several more—
it’s inside my new book Divine Redirection.
I’m really excited about it.
It’ll be out in October . . .
but instead of paying the full $15 price (plus postage),
you can pre-order it directly from me right now for $10.
Please don’t use PayPal.
It’s much easier for me to deal with checks.
You can write a check for $12 (includes postage)
and mail it to:
Susie Shellenberger Ministries
7012 N. Lake Front Drive
Warr Acres, OK 73132
Will you pray for me as I speak at Columbia International University
this week?
