Last week, because of YouTube, this email list grew by 30%.

I realized this might be the best time to kick off a new series based on one of my 2025 Bible lists. If this doesn’t sound familiar, you can watch the video here.

Earlier this year, I started tracking a tiny piece of Genesis I’ve been aware of for many years.

Seth also had a son, and he named him Enosh. At that time, men began to call on the name of the LORD. Gen 4:26

If you are familiar with Genesis, chapter 4 is quite the wild ride. It begins with the story of Adam and Eve giving birth to Cain. In fact, it's the global mention of God, rather than the personal narratives we see in Gen 1-3. The chapter begins with the story of Cain and Abel, the curse of Cain, and then his genealogy. Cain’s descendants keep up with the chaos, and sin begins to compound.

Then the storyteller tells us that Adam and Eve give birth to another son, Seth. Then we get to our verse. It’s an interesting conclusion to a story that seems to be spiraling more and more out of control.

Once, in the past, I heard this verse was the first instance of Christian worship. That made it stick in my head. Years later, the verse still jumps out, but to call it “worship” is not to give it the depth it deserves. Some commentators, like Sailhammer (which is one of the best last names ever), pick up this language of worship. Brueggemann describes it as the first time people began relying on the Lord. In my opinion, this is a more accurate idea of what's happening.

If we want to get nerdy (you know I do), the Hebrew here has a literal meaning of “call.” The NRSV translates it as “invoke.” Clearly, something big is going on. Pulling deeper into word study, we find this is a specific sort of call. It is a word directed toward a specific recipient and intended to elicit a specific response. This isn’t some sort of "hollering out," if I may use a more Southern description.

Part of my realization this year is that this isn’t some generic action, but one of the basic action points of having a life with God. I want to dig into the fundamental nature of the relationship. I'm tracking this idea I call "mechanics of salvation" in both Scripture and wider theology. Yes, it is soteriology, but it is also much broader.

All this interest in “calling on the name of the Lord” stems from these threads I am pulling out in my devotional life. Each of them surrounds both recognition and reaction to the revelation of God being in our lives. I’ve been reading Karl Barth this past year, and like anything complicated, it is helpful to read other people's writings about that specific author. Hank Spaulding has a great article about Karl Barth and prayer that has been helpful. You can read it here. It tracks with this idea.

Something specific is going on here in Genesis 4.

But we will dig into that more next time.

Until then, think about why this early engagement between humans and God as a specific action.

Chad

PS. I wrote a little eBook this year about mission and inward-focused churches. If you are looking for a short, one-session read this holiday season, I’d love for you to consider it. You can get it on Amazon Kindle here.​