“So they will put my name on the Israelites, and I will bless them.” (Num. 6:27)
Expanded Passage: Numbers 6:27
I received a card from a faraway friend recently with the salutation, Most Dear Friend. That card was just the encouragement I needed. I’d recently moved away and missed her hugs and the prayer times we’d shared together. I felt alone in my new town and wondered if my friend missed me as much as I missed her. That card was the reminder I needed, letting me know she still cares about me and our friendship. She named me a most dear friend.
The Israelites were given the name of God’s chosen people, and with that title came the blessing of being God’s beloved. Deuteronomy 7:6 says this about the Israelites, “you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.” Moses taught Aaron and the Levitical priests a prayer of blessing as a reminder to be spoken over the Israelites lest they forget whose they were.
Through the death and resurrection of Jesus’ we too are called a “chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession.” (1 Peter 2:9) Often the cruel names the world gives us drown out our true name, our true identity as children of God. Let’s live the name, God’s children, and remind those around us of their identity too.
Remind those who have forgotten their value to God.
Beth Gormong is a graduate of Indiana Wesleyan University (IN) and serves at Wesleyan Publishing House. She spends her free time at the library reading and writing.
© 2025 Wesleyan Publishing House. Reprinted from Light from the Word. Used by permission. Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV®.