The God who knows your Nickname and Address!

By Helen Jesze, 6^th August 2021

“He counts the stars and calls them all by name,”

Psalm 147:4 New Living Translation

“Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”

Psalm 139:7, NIV

The great God who made the universe knows every one of his created beings, how many there are and each of their names and characteristics. He shows his marvellous handiwork in Nature and does not just create and then forget, or leave them to fulfil the purpose he has given them, but this verse tells us that he counts the millions of stars and has a name for each one individually! What a personal God! A God of great detail, who takes nothing at face value, who takes delight in his creation. Yet if God would do this for the myriads of stars, how much more does he take interest, passionate delight in the crowning of his creation – men and women made in his own image!

It is thrilling to me to know that wherever I am in this great world, God knows my where- abouts! On sea or land, travelling by car, ship or aeroplane, in the country or the city, God’s presence goes with me. The day will never come when God suddenly exclaims: “O dear, I’ve lost Helen! Where can she be?! Angels, we’ll have to send out a search-party to find her!” That would be terrible!

The Psalmist also said that in the light or the darkness, God’s eye still saw him and it was impossible to flee from him. We can rest assured today, that this same compassionate God cares deeply for us, knows our name, even our nickname! At one place where George worked, there was a young man who was very slow at his job, and he was given the name of “Lightning”! Sometimes a nickname is given in a sarcastic or very unkind way, and the person concerned feels bullied. But this was all in good fun and they had a laugh together.

But God knowing our nickname came home to us clearly when George was preaching in a church, and suddenly, in the middle of his sermon, he said the words, “Zaccheus, come down, for I want to bless you!” He had not been preaching about Zaccheus and wondered why he had said that. He said it again, and some people started laughing. Then a lady came down from the balcony and walked up the aisle towards him, tears streaming down her face. Zaccheus was a man and here comes a woman! Then everybody laughed and clapped. She explained to George, “When I came to this church, I was given the nickname ‘Zaccheus’, because I am so short!”

God saw that lady’s hungry heart and spoke directly to her, by a Word of Knowledge through George, and he had a special message for her that night! Not only our name, our nickname but also our address is well-known to this personal God. Several years ago when we were living in Germany, our car broke down and we had no money to have it repaired. We also needed help with some literature. The doorbell rang and two men stood at the door.

The bearded man took one of our newsletters out of his pocket, saying, “Somebody gave us this and we thought we’d look you up. We are Christians from Manchester and Liverpool, coming back from a ministry trip in eastern Europe. We’ve been searching for hours. Then somebody in a Bank told us where you lived.” George invited them in, saying, “By the way, what address did you have?” They showed us the address on the newsletter. It was “Postfach 23” (Postbox 23). Not understanding any German, they had been looking for “Postbox Street”, and of course, there wasn’t one! God led them to a Bank where we had some accounts!

God had answered our prayer, for one repaired the car (he just ‘happened’ to be a mechanic!), and they both helped us with the literature project. Yes, God knows where we are. He never goes to the wrong house and has wonderful surprises for us when we trust him! So let’s believe that the God who knows our nickname and address, will intervene mightily on our behalf today!