Sometimes, the right name will accomplish something for you that you can’t accomplish yourself. I’m reminded of the time I was Editor-in-Chief of Computer Gaming World and we were attending a big convention. Sony’s Psygnosis division was having a big party at a nightclub and my technical editor (who was rooming with me) knew that I wasn’t going. So, he grabbed some of my business cards and asked my executive editor if he wanted to go to the party. Ken said that there was no way they could get in. Mike waved my card in his face and said, “Johnny could.”
When they arrived at the party, Mike gave my card to the girl at the receptionist table and, since I wasn’t actually on the invitation list, she went in to check with Jerry Wolosenko, a friend of mine who was running the Psygnosis division. Jerry came out to see me and quickly recognized Mike and Ken. He said they looked like homeless waifs. He laughed and waved them in. To this day, Mike would say that my name got them in the party. Well, I wouldn’t try it now that I’m not in the business, but it worked back then. Well, guess what? We can get into God’s presence with the right name. It’s no longer the name that Israel knew, but there is a hint right here in the Psalm.
This idea of access to God leads the Psalmist to additional praise and testimony of salvation (v. 21). Then, guess what we find? We find that oft-quoted verse (in the New Testament) about the stone which the builders rejected becoming the most important stone of the structure. Salvation, again, depends upon God’s doing.
Since we can rewind the film, we know that Jesus is the fulfillment of this verse, but all the Psalmist knew was that God’s work, God’s purpose, God’s goals, and God’s expectations aren’t always accepted by humankind. Yet, he knows that God’s work, God’s purpose, God’s goals, and God’s expectations are vital and will certainly win out.