Daily Thought

At the very beginning men prayed, calling on the name of the Lord, and others followed in their steps. Abraham ‘called upon the name of the Lord’ after building the altar between Bethel and Hai, Gen. 12. 8. He did so again in the same place after his return from Egypt, and yet again at Beersheba, 13. 4; 21. 33. Isaac followed his father’s excellent practice in this way when he was at Beersheba, 26. 25. The psalmist cried, ‘Lord, I have called daily upon thee, I have stretched out my hands unto thee’, Ps. 88. 9. Perhaps we ‘began to call upon the name of the Lord’, but, alas, it is no longer a daily habit.

Many other things which we now know so well began at this time. See Gen. 4. 17-24. It was then, in the world of Cain, that men began ‘to call upon the name of the Lord’. The streams of human activity which began in those far-off years have now reached flood tide. Industry, commerce, business, music, and so many other things can buy us, body, mind and soul, if we allow them to do so. How necessary for us ‘to call upon the name of the Lord’!

But look again. God was at work in the world of Cain. ‘And to Seth, to him also there was born a son; and he called his name Enos’. We watch another story unfold. Seth, Enos, Cainan, Mahalaleel, Jared, Enoch, Methuselah, Lamech, Noah; Luke chapter 2 traces the ancestry of the Lord Jesus back to these men. How wonderful! God was preparing the way for the advent of His beloved Son! It is the story of His love for us! It means that we gladly ‘call upon the name of the Lord’ with thanksgiving and praise.

Enos means ‘mortal’ or ‘frail’. MATTHEW HENRY calls it, ‘that general name for all men, which bespeaks the weakness, frailty, and misery, of man’s state’. The Apostle Paul felt this keenly, and ‘besought the Lord thrice’. It was all to no avail, or so it seemed. But there was an answer: ‘He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness’, 2 Cor. 12. 8, 9. As a true son of Enos, Paul called upon the Lord, and found divine strength.

Have you begun ‘to call upon the name of the Lord’? Then continue to do so. But with your petitions for divine help in difficult days, do not forget to say with wonder, ‘Thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift’, 2 Cor. 9. 15.