January 2022 — Susan Ricketts
a letter from Liz —
Dear AP Girlfriend,
Happy New Year! Wherever you are, I pray you are well and having a good start to 2022. In Jeff’s recent AP newsletter, he talked about praying for double blessings, and I agree. My friend wrote her theme for this year: “Greater things He’ll do for 2022.” I can say a hearty amen to that because I believe God for miracles in our lives.
As we begin this year, I’d love to hear how I can be praying for you personally. I have been seeing miracles and answered prayers in the lives of girls I have been praying with over the past year—and I want more. We realize the enemy is working overtime, and we need to be vigilant to deny him the victory. You can reply to this letter, and I will begin a list and let you know I am praying.
This month’s devotion from Susan Ricketts is a testimony of 2020. Looking back, we can see God’s hand upon her life and be strengthened by what He did. Susan is a global worker who has committed her life to serving in Japan. She is dearly loved and works hard to spread the gospel in that country.
Never alone,
Liz
Experiencing Yahweh
By Susan Ricketts
When the world stopped in 2020, I was close to finishing itineration. Having to cancel my last two months of services and being stuck at home with more time, I began reading the New English Translation (NET) Bible on my iPhone. I found the translators’ notes added depth to my Bible reading. I also began practicing the spiritual disciplines of solitude, stillness, and silence to better focus on God instead of focusing on my circumstances to change. My time of waiting became a time of quiet reflection on my relationship with God and spending quality time with family.
In August 2020 Japan began allowing foreign residents with visas and reentry permits to enter. I met the requirements and was able to return to Japan in September. In December I bought a copy of the NET Bible, because I wanted to feel the pages and see all the notes at once. While reading Genesis and Exodus, God’s Hebrew name Yahweh became much more meaningful. When Moses encountered God in the burning bush, he asked, “What is your name?” God answered, “I AM that I AM,” which in Hebrew is Yahweh (Exodus 3:13–14). Later God spoke to Moses, saying, “I am the Lord [Yahweh]. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob as God Almighty [El Shaddai], but by my name ‘the Lord’ [Yahweh] I was not known to them” (Exodus 6:2–3, NET).
If God revealed His name only at this time to Moses, then what had the patriarchs called Him? Moses probably anticipated the Israelites would want to be sure that his message really was from God. They would have already known the name Yahweh and the ways that He had revealed himself to their forefathers. (By the way, the name Yahweh appears 162 times in Genesis.) If Moses introduced an unknown name, it would seem he was introducing a new god, and his message would only confuse them and not be accepted. They had already been calling out to the God of their fathers to deliver them.
The translators’ notes in the NET Bible clarify several points. For one, El Shaddai is a title, not a name. Also, God was not saying He did not reveal His name to the patriarchs but that they had not experienced what the name Yahweh meant, and they could not do so without seeing His promises fulfilled. God was now dealing with the nation of Israel and would make His name Yahweh known to them through His deeds. They were about to experience the name their ancestors knew but had never experienced as the fulfiller of His promises. God promised to bring them out of Egypt and into the Promised Land, and through the process, they would know He is Yahweh.
As I read this, I realized that when we wait on God to do what only He can do, we experience more of Him. In 2020 somehow God helped me by providing the remainder of my support from unexpected sources. He made all the necessary documents and tests needed for international travel come together. Even though COVID is still here, I know more than ever that Yahweh is ever-present with me, working in and through me so that His name becomes known to the never-reached of Asia Pacific.
Allow me to end with these reflection questions: What spiritual disciplines have you been practicing recently that help you experience God more? In what ways is God revealing himself to you through those spiritual disciplines?
