YAHWEH TSIDQENU: the Lord our righteousness

There is no one righteous, not even one. Romans 3:10

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This is the name by which He will be called: The LORD our Righteousness.

Jeremiah 23:6

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Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. Matthew 5:6

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Meaning of His Name:

I used to think that being righteous meant being a good girl. So I set out to obey the rules, to tow the line, to behave the way I thought I was supposed to.

And I failed.

Again and again I tried. And again and again I failed.

After a while I stopped trying so hard and started pretending. I pretended to be better than I was. Pretended to be nicer, sweeter, more loving, less obstinate.

But then I had kids... lots of kids. And I couldn’t pretend when surrounded by fussy babies and needy toddlers and mess-making pre-schoolers. And I didn’t much like this woman I knew I was, so I started to pray- really pray, for a rescue from Me.

Then God, in His grace, let all my behavior-modifying, performance-oriented faith collapse like that proverbial house on the sand.

And I sank deep.

I saw my own depths of darkness and I cowered at the sight.

Yet in all that mess I had made, Jesus bent down low and rescued me. He picked me out of that muddy pit, cleaned me up, and set my feet solidly on Himself. The Rock.

And I’ve been singing about Him as loudly as I can ever since. (read more about that here) Because…

He did what I couldn’t and He didn’t have to.

He just did.

And that, my dear friends, is the barest bones of this thing we call the Gospel. The good news.

That I couldn’t be good, let alone righteous. And neither could you. And neither can your kids or your friends or your husband or anyone else you expect to be better than they are.

And that’s why Jesus came to rescue us and why He’s rescuing us still and why someday He’s going to bring us so fully into His presence that we become who we were meant to be.

Who He is. Yahweh Tsidqenu. The Lord our Righteousness.

For an all-too-often hypocritical, not-good woman like me, that’s not just Good News. It is the best news!

Because now its not about me and how well I do as a woman or as a mother or wife or friend or Jesus follower. It’s not about following the latest techniques and reading all the books and going to that seminar guaranteed to turn us into shining paragons of perfection.

It’s about Jesus.

The Rescuer. The Redeemer. The Messiah. The Savior.

My righteousness.

From my heart,

Diane

Want more?

Read straight through what some have named, “The Romans Road” :

Romans 3:33

Romans 6:33

Romans 5:8

Romans 10:9