Named

We do not name ourselves--our parents carefully choose our names. Perhaps for a family member, a dream, a trait, an honor, a hope. Spiritually, we do not name ourselves. Nor do our names come from us. But because God is Love, we are Beloved.

Because God has conquered all, we are Overcomers.

Because God is Shepherd, we are the Sheep of His Pasture.

Because God chose you, you are the Chosen, Accepted. 

Because God was the Promise Giver, Abram became Abraham, and Sarai became Sarah (Gen. 18:5). Jacob became Israel.

Because God is the one who gave Daniel the wisdom to interpret the most-powerful-man-in-the-entire-world-at-that-time’s dream in the face of Daniel’s impending execution and the impossibility. Because of this, Daniel could come in front of this most-powerful-man-in-the-entire-world-at-that-time and speak in confidence. Because God is the one who shut the lions’ mouths and protected Daniel against the slander and assault and attempted slaughter of the other officials. Because God was the one who protected Daniel from pride in his exalted status. Because God was the one who renamed Daniel Greatly-Loved (Dan. 10:18) instead of The-One-Abandoned-in-Exile or The-Big-and-Mighty-Official (see Daniel 1, 2).

Because God was with Jeremiah in his own questioning of self, of calling, and of God’s goodness when he faced death, trauma, rejection, futility, and failure (Jer. 5:21; 6:10; ch. 36; ch. 38). God called him the One-Who-Can-Run-with-Horses (Jer. 12:5), and the One-With-God’s-Word-of-Power (Jer. 1:4-18) instead of The-Failure or The-Weeping-Prophet (Jer. 9:1).  

Because God is the God who did not abandon Job in all of his suffering or when his friends betrayed him and turned into his attackers. Because God was the God who answered this miserable man’s deepest wish, to see and hear God, even though Job had said some pretty terrible things about God. Because God is the one who raised Job out of the ashes and raised his self-image once again to a friend of God. God named him My-Faithful-Servant (Job 1:8; 42:8) instead of The-Sinner-Who-Deserves-His-Suffering (Job 8) or The-One-Who-Is-Mocked-On-the-Ash-Heap (Job 30:1).

Our names do not come from ourselves. Daniel who could not became Daniel who did. Daniel the exilee became Daniel the Loved. Jeremiah the questioning became the mouth of God’s efficacious word. Job the deserted became Job the Faithful.

Your name does not come from yourself. It is his choosing, his work, his faithfulness, his Spirit in you. Look to him. Hear his name for you, today. And let the Spirit continue to birth that in you.