When God Whispers Your Name: Discover the Path to Hope in Knowing that God Cares for You

by Max Lucado

Changing direction in life is not tragic. Losing passion in life is.

Something happens to us

along the way. Convictions to change the world downgrade to commitments to pay the bills. Rather than make a difference, we make a salary. Rather than look forward, we look ...

And we don’t like wha...

am not a great man! How can I go to the king and lead the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Exod.

3:11).

11).

But more than the ways of the desert and the people, Moses needed to learn something about himself.

But he was. And, guess what. So are you. The voice from the bush is the voice that whispers to you. It reminds you that God is not finished with you yet. Oh, you may think he is. You may think you’ve peaked. You may think he’s got someone else to do the job.

“God began doing a good work in you, and I am sure he will continue it until it is finished when Jesus Christ comes again.”1 Did you see what God is doing? A good work in you. Did you see when he will be finished? When Jesus comes again. May I spell out the message? God ain’t finished with you yet.

he may speak through this book.

The One who knew it all wasn’t a know-it-all.

His purpose was not to show off but to show up.

Couldn’t we learn to be children again?

Be a child again. Flirt. Giggle. Dip your cookie in your milk.

Take a nap. Say you’re sorry if you hurt someone. Chase a butterfly. Be a child again.

The boy’s name? Charles Haddon Spurgeon. England’s prince of preachers.

“The true children of God are those who let God’s Spirit lead them” (Rom. 8:14).

The Holy Spirit is the presence of God in our lives, carrying on the work of Jesus. The Holy Spirit helps us in three directions—inwardly (by granting us the fruits of the Spirit, Gal. 5:22–24), upwardly (by praying for us, Rom. 8:26), and outwardly (by pouring God’s love into our hearts, Rom. 5:5).

Sometimes the most godly thing we can do is take a day off.

You’ll regret opening your mouth. You’ll rarely regret keeping it shut.

To see sin without grace is despair. To see grace without sin is arrogance. To see them in tandem is conversion.

As soon as you can, pay your debts. As long as you can, give the benefit of the doubt. As much as you can, give thanks. He’s already given us more than we deserve.

If our greatest need had been information, God would have sent us an educator. If our greatest need had been technology, God would have sent us a scientist. If our greatest need had been money, God would have sent us an economist. But since our greatest need was forgiveness, God sent us a Savior.

I’ve never been surprised by God’s judgment, but I’m still stunned by his grace.

The thief on the cross: hellbent and hung-out-to-die one minute, heaven-bound and smiling the next.

You will find a shepherd who finds him.

Greed is not defined by what something costs; it is measured by what it costs you.

If anything costs you your faith or your family, the price is too high.

To forgive someone is to display reverence. Forgiveness is not saying the one who hurt you was right. Forgiveness is stating that God is fair and he will do what is right.

Trust him, I say to us both. Trust the voice that whispers your name. Trust the hands to catch.

He’s Peter on the water, seeing the storm and not the face. He’s Peter in the waves, hearing the wind and not the voice.

Then what do you have, Paul? No belongings. No family. Criticized by some. Mocked by others. What do you have, Paul? What do you have that matters?

I have my faith. It’s all I have. But it’s all I need. I have kept the faith.

For that’s what faith is. Faith is trusting what the eye can’t see.

Eyes see the prowling lion. Faith sees Daniel’s angel. Eyes see storms. Faith sees Noah’s rainbow.

Eyes see giants. Faith sees Canaan. Your eyes see your faults. Your faith sees your Savior. Your eyes see your guilt. Your faith sees his blood. Your eyes see your grave. Your f...

Your eyes look in the mirror and see a sinner, a failure, a promise-breaker. But by faith you look in the mirror and see a robed prodigal bearing the ring of grace on your f...

“That power is the same as the great strength God used to raise Christ from the dead” (Eph. 1:19–20).

Next time you wonder if God can catch you, read that verse. The very arms that defeated death are the arms awaiting you. Next time you wonder if God can forgive you, read that verse. The very hands that were nailed to the cross are open for you.

Dependent upon the past, responsible for the future; he’s part of a chain.

Like us. Children of the past, are we. Parents of the future. Heirs. Benefactors. Recipients of the work done by those before. Born into a forest we didn’t seed.

Which leads me to ask, how’s ...

Pride at legacy left? Perhaps. Some inherit nourished soil. Deeply rooted trees of conviction. Row after row of truth and heritage. Could be that you stand in the forest of your fathers with pride. If so, give thanks, for many don’t.

And now you find yourself trying to explain your past.

The principle? We can’t choose our parents, but we can choose our mentors.

And since Josiah chose David (who had chosen God), things began to happen.

Not what you call a public relations tour. But, then again, Josiah was not out to make friends. He was out to make a statement: “What my fathers taught, I don’t teach. What they embraced, I reject.”

God was his God. David’s faith was Josiah’s faith. He had found the God of David and made him his own.

He wept that his people had drifted so far from God that his Word was not a part of their lives.