READ: ISAIAH 43:1-13; JOHN 10:3-4, 27-30; HEBREWS 12:1-3

Have you ever been in the middle of competing in an intense sporting event, tired and discouraged, when someone called out your name to cheer you on? During my days playing high school soccer, I’d be racing toward the ball, exhausted and ready to quit, then I’d hear a familiar voice call out my name. I could hear it above all the noise of the fans. It was all I needed to dig in, keep fighting, and run with endurance. Someone knew me by name. They were watching. They cared. I wasn’t just a player on the field. I was their player.

We have a heavenly Father who knows us and calls us by name. We are His. We hear His voice, and we follow Him. We are seen, known, and loved.

At times we can feel lonely, tired, lost, or fearful. We can feel as if no one really knows us or sees us. We can tell ourselves we are just a player on the field, lost in the race. But it’s not true. We serve a God who cares so intimately for us that He calls us by name.

In Isaiah 43, God tells the Israelites to remember that He chose them, He formed them, He redeemed them. Therefore, they need not fear. They are not alone. And God tells us the same.

Listen for His voice calling your name when you’re tired and ready to quit, when you feel lonely and wonder if anyone sees you, when you’re scared and can’t see the road ahead. He is calling your name. Listen for His voice and follow Him. He sees you. He knows you. He loves you. • Renee Robinson

• How does it make you feel when someone uses your name? Is it a good feeling or a bad feeling?

• Take a moment to imagine God calling your name. What kind of tone of voice does He use? What might this tell you about how you perceive God?

• Why does it matter that God knows us by name? Through Jesus, God ran the race before us. He became human and lived a perfect, sinless life—ultimately dying on the cross and rising from the grave to make the way for us to be forgiven and live with Him forever. So now, as people who have been called by name and put our trust in Jesus, we can “run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:1-2). As we remember Jesus’s loving sacrifice for us and look forward to His return, we can know that He’s always with us, calling us by name, cheering us on, and reminding us who we are in Him.

But now, this is what the Lord says—he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine.” Isaiah 43:1 (NIV)