What names have you given God? Why would I ask the question? In concluding the series Faith: Why Is It Difficult, I asked this question: What has God done to make it so easy? To answer that, we’ll have to wrestle with a question Jesus’ asked His first disciples. Our answers, good or bad, will impact every aspect of our lives!
Who Do You Say That I AM?
I realize most readers know Peter’s answer. But the names we have imposed on Yahweh have made the Church weak and ineffective. That’s why I asked the opening question. We know we should say:
You are the Christ, the Son of the Living God!
That’s what Peter said. But his correct answer wasn’t enough to keep him from denying Christ three times. The difficulty of the question lies in continuing to answer it. We must do so every day in every facet of life. Is I AM Who He says He is? Is He really:
- Provider
- Shepherd
- Healer
- Inheritance
- Giver of every good and perfect gift
Now, let me pose my other question once more: What has God done to make it so easy? He’s done more than we can imagine. And the more we know of what He has done, the more often we will answer His question correctly. So what has He done?
I AM: What’s In A Name?
Yahweh has revealed His names. Many more than my bullet list above. Maybe your first thought is, So what? It might help to know why God says He makes His name(s) known to us: He wants us to trust Him. His Self-revelation makes that easier for us to do. We see this in Psalm 9:10.
Those who know Your name… The order of the verse is important. How can visible Man comprehend the Invisible God? How does the sinful creature know the Holy Creator?
If I AM didn’t reveal Himself we would be left with our own deformed thoughts and images of what a god could be. Of course, that assumes we would even have a thought about some god somewhere. And even though He has revealed much, people still try to make Him in their own image. They try to conceive of Him the way they wish He was. We’ll look at that.
Those who know Your name trust in You. Knowing brings trust. And our Father has done a great deal to make our trust easier. The challenge will be to drop our own ideas of Who He is and focus on the truth of what He says. That will make a difference in the life of anyone, everyone, who will do it! Think about it. Til next time…
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