What's Your Name
As a teenager, I remember trying to find the meaning of my name. The results of my search were less than satisfying. Terri meant swan and Lynn meant lake. I’d been hoping for something profound. I didn’t quite know how to spin swan lake into anything that would wow anyone, myself included.
The internet has made the quest for meaning much easier. Just pop a name into Google, and you get definitions from the Latin, Greek, Old English, etc. along with a plethora of sites you can visit to do a deeper dive. Turns out Terri means harvester, reaper, or late summer. Lynn still means pond, pool, or waterfall. I suppose these meanings are appropriate considering my love for gardening and being by the water.
“And he said to him, “What is your name?” And he said, “Jacob.””
I’m making my way through a wonderful book by Eva Marie Everson, “The Third Path: Finding Intimacy with God on the Path of Questioning.” It examines various questions asked by God in the bible and invites the reader to make the question personal. I’ll admit it can be a challenge to pose some of these questions to myself.
The fourth question examined in the book is one God put to Jacob. “What is your name?”
The name Jacob means deceiver or supplanter. He’d proven himself to be both. By asking Jacob his name, God wasn’t looking for information. He already knew Jacob’s name. The question was an invitation. Jacob could open up, bare his soul. It was, perhaps, first time he’d come face-to-face with what he’d done when he’d stolen Esau’s birthright.
To admit my darkest thoughts, feelings and motives to a holy, all-powerful God can be hard to do. Will he be disappointed in me? Will he reject me?
“Then he said, “Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel, for you have striven with God and with men, and have prevailed.” ”
I read Jacob’s confession and it dawns on me that it’s not followed by reprimand or rejection. God didn’t wave his finger in Jacob’s face and say, “That’s bad. You shouldn’t be that. You shouldn’t do that.” Rather, God gave Jacob a new name, Israel, meaning “one who wrestled with God and with men and won.”
You see, God already knew who Jacob was and everything he’d done. He wasn’t looking for information. He was drawing Jacob into a relationship. In my experience, this is an ongoing process. At different stages of my life, I feel God’s tug on my heart to tell him who I am, to take account of what my motives are. He’s drawing me close to him. Sometimes there’s wrestling involved, but I come away from those encounters with a sense of being refreshed.
Don’t we feel closest to the people in our lives when we have those heart-to-heart, soul-baring conversations? It’s the same with God.
So, what’s your name?
If you’d like to check out Eva Marie’s book you can order it here.