What is in a Name?

Throughout the last decade and a half the Lord has littered my journey with Him with nuggets of teaching about names and why He changes them. Have you ever noticed that? One minute we are reading about Abram, then the next Abraham. Jacob was renamed Israel.

Did you ever wonder why?

I went through two major times of internal healing –the first was from sexual abuse with my dad; the second, a separation and divorce.  On each occasion the Lord told me, “I will change your name, daughter.” When I asked Him why, He reminded me that throughout my growing up years I was embarrassed to be known as my father’s daughter because of his behavior in public while intoxicated. I would cringe inside when people said,” You are Jack’s daughter.”  When I confirmed yes, I saw the look in their eye. I saw the looks behind my father’s back when he, in a drunken stupor, would be belligerent or lascivious to  friends. I quickly learned that being his daughter was something to be ashamed of.

So when my Abba told me He was changing my name, I was excited, but I didn’t understand what that meant. Then he brought me to Genesis 32 where Jacob wrestled with God and He changed his name to Israel. The Lord said…

“But he had to wrestle for it.”

Oh. Well that didn’t sound as inviting as before. Couldn’t I just get some sort of spiritual birth certificate? What about a Christening party…I liked parties.

Nope. Wrestling.

“But Lord,” I whined, “I don’t know how to wrestle!”

He showed me.

Like Jacob, I had to give up my right to fear, vengeance, hurt, and betrayal just to name a few. In other words, I had to give up my right to my past. You can’t take a new name into a new future with the past hanging on to you like an albatross.

The Israelites had it right. They understood the power behind a name. They knew that a name was an actual spiritual blessing and it meant there was power imparted through a God-given name. Some even believed that names influenced the thoughts and beliefs about themselves and that the name prophesied characteristics or roles they would play in history. ¹

I thought once I had my new name that was “it”, that I’d arrived. That was when the Great Name Giver showed me that, in order to pass through the wilderness into your promised land, you have many wrestling’s and many name changes along the way. Every time you have a major shift or transition in your life’s journey, He may take you through a season of wrestling for a new name.

I’ve grown to like wrestling. Don’t get me wrong. It’s hard. It hurts. I have likened it to peeling off skin over an exposed bone.

Kind of like shedding…only deeper.

I will change your name
You shall no longer be called
Wounded, outcast, lonely or afraid

I will change your name
Your new name shall be
Confidence, joyfulness, overcoming one
Faithfulness, friend of God
One who seeks My face

Eden’s Bridge

¹ http://www.gotquestions.org/name-change.ht