What's in a Name?

"He called the place Massah and Meribah, 

because the Israelites quarreled and tested the Lord" - Exodus 17"7

 

William Shakespeare famously wrote in "Romeo and Juliet, "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet." In this play, Juliet is arguing that it does not matter that Romeo is from her family's rival House of Montague. 

But names do matter. When our children were young, one of our children was crying because she had been called a name. I told her, "Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me." That seemed to make things better, but when I recounted the story to Varita, she said, "but words do hurt." 

Yes, words can hurt. Moses would always remember the place of Massah and Meribah as where the children of Israel had quarreled and tested the Lord. He did this as a warning to them. 

Jimmy Kimmel, who recently hosted the Academy Awards, was brutalized on Twitter for making fun of two actors' names. Those things can hurt. 

Many people I've counseled have had lasting emotional scars into their adulthood over their father-it's usually the father-calling them names as children, such as Tubby, or Hippy, or Good for Nothing. 

God changed Abram's name (from Exalted Father) to Abraham (Father of Many Nations); Jacob's name (Deceiver) to Israel (Let God Contend). 

One of the reasons we want to get really quiet and meditative is to be still enough to get past the lies that the enemy whispers in our ear and instead to hear God call us his beloved. God loves us for who we are, not for our accom- plishments. God's love precedes all. Jeremiah 31:3 tells us, "I have loved you with an everlasting love; therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you." 

Spend some time this week remembering the wrong names you have been called. Then get really quiet and see if you can hear God speaking a more loving word in your ear.

      Neal+