What's in a name?
The names of God are riddled throughout the Bible. Almighty, seeing, healing, highest LORD. That is who our God is. Provider, master, banner, shepherd, peace, sword, father, judge, help, light. Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there!
"My God, that is who you are" ("Way Maker").
In each name of God, His character is on display. Whether He is proclaiming His character by gifting us with a new name, a new facet of His identity, or whether that name is given to Him in response to the revelation of His character.
Each one is a testament to His character and to His kindness in showing it to us.
Our names are part of our identity, but we rarely resonate with them in the same way. In the Bible names always have meaning and power. They're meant to tell us something about someone or who they will be. Both Abram and Jacob's names were changed as a result of their encounter with God and His promise. But in the United States, they are more often namesakes or surface impressions.
Though not universal, my culture is not one to focus on the meaning of names. Naming a child after someone important in our lives can be a wonderful way to honor that person and to remember them always. It can be a beautiful tradition (though it just as readily can become an expectation--If you're a II or a III, you're not given much choice in creating a III or IV), but I also miss the focus on meaning. Namesakes are a different kind of testimony--and a good one--but I miss the testimony of names' meaning.
Outside of honoring someone, we tend to focus on the beauty of the name itself as well as individuality. We choose names we like the sound of, but then we have to measure who else has that name. We don't want our kid to be one of five in the class or for someone to think we're copying them, and I think that's what led to the trend of unique names. But even with our unique names, we want to make sure they're not so weird as to cause judgement for the parents or mocking for the child. When we think about it, our names are about us. As the parents, what do we like. As the children, how will their name fit into their context. We definitely don't want to give our kids names that will make their lives harder--that will leave them constantly having to spell or pronounce or get made fun of, which is an act of care but also reveals that our naming works from culture in instead of from family out. When I think of how we name our children, our names are about status or perception or convenience or enjoyment or family--motives which cover the spectrum of good, bad, and neutral. And I'm not judging all of these motives or criticizing those who act on them--that is the United States' culture, and a lot of beautiful and intentional names come from it--but I find myself missing the depth of meaning and the priority of it.
Names are designed to speak life over our children. To declare purpose. To testify to God's glory and character. And I want us to regain the power of our names. I want names that remind us in the rush of life to pause under who God is and praise Him. Names that strike us with their meaning in unexpected moments.
In several cultures names are chosen based on what the parents are going through in the season in which their child is born, and they can mean whole sentences instead of a single word. Even in the United States, I tend to resonate more with the names that proclaim a thought instead of a word, and I love the thought of names bearing testimony to the start of a child's life, to what God was teaching the child's parents in that season and not only to their aesthetic preferences. I want names that resonate with the parents and testify God's goodness to the children who bear them so that they may grow in that knowledge as their foundation and so that they can be shared with others.
When I think about names, I want to find names that make my heart glad and lead me to rejoicing. I want names that remind me of who God is in every season. I want each name that we carry from life to death to remind me that He doesn't change, that He is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow, and that He is good.
And I'm thankful that no matter the ebbs and flows of cultures and how we name our children, that God's names do not change and they will testify to His goodness for all generations.
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