Section 11
Him all the time. Calling on Him, we partake of and enjoy all His riches.
Calling on the Lord is different from merely praying to Him. The Greek word for "call on" or "call upon" means to invoke a person, to call a person by name. Although it is possible to pray to the Lord silently, calling on the Lord requires that we cry out to Him or address Him audibly. The Hebrew word for "call" in Genesis 4:26 firstly means to "call out to" or to "cry unto." Isaiah 12:4 and 6 show that to call upon the Lord's name is to "cry out and shout." Lamentations 3:55 and 56 reveal the same thing—to call upon the Lord's name is to "cry" to the Lord. Hence, David said, "I called upon the Lord, and cried to my God" (2 Sam. 22:7). To call upon the Lord is to cry to Him.
According to the Scripture record, this matter of calling on the name of the Lord began with the third generation of mankind. From the time of Enosh "began men to call upon the name of the Lord" (Gen. 4:26). Then Abraham (Gen. 12:8), Isaac (Gen. 26:25), Job (Job 12:4), Moses (Deut. 4:7), Jabez (1 Chron. 4:10), Samson (Judg. 16:28), Samuel (1 Sam. 12:18), David (2 Sam. 22:4; 1 Chron. 21:26), Jonah (Jonah 1:6), Elijah (1 Kings 18:24), Jeremiah (Lam. 3:55)—they all practiced