The Names of God

Do you ever think about the names of God? I do.

Because though the Almighty God, who supersedes and transcends all of our human wisdom, is too great to be explained in words, we still try. God must have a lot of grace for our foolish determination.

We live out our lives trying to express. Being expressed is one of this generation’s most pressing needs. And so it makes sense that we would try to make our way around the enormity of God by giving Him titles like “Savior” and “Shepard” and “Emmanuel.” John was right in his gospel when he simply called Christ “the Word.” The Word, being the pinnacle of vernacular, the very essence of language as the endeavor to sum up everything we cannot but try to.

What was the last time you were struck by the wonder of God? Do you think about it at all? It is so easy to pass by without stopping to look in. But, come on, God. There is an all-powerful, all-seeing Being who exists in dimensions we cannot even begin to wrap our minds around, who made all and judges all and yet with all this power and perfection we are even on His radar? Crazier still, He loves us, a term which we are told we have not even begun to understand, and He has even offered to fix our blundering mistakes. The existence of God is mind blowing in the most essential sense of the term.

And we confine Him to a good post on Facebook, or an Instagram caption, or a church billboard.

God will blow your mind if you take a second to pay attention. He is enormous.

I would like to point out a feeling that I have not always been able to put into words. We don’t like enormous things. We are afraid of them. Yet instead of hiding from them or putting them in a safe, we drag them out into the open. We are obsessed with sex and science and inspiration, thinking that if we talk about the secret long enough, we will come to understand it.

The very nature of God counteracts this philosophy, offering an alternative in its place. There is insurmountable beauty in accepting something you don’t understand and will never understand. Where does the melody come from when I try to write a song? I have no idea. Does the universe have an end? Both questions are on the same level. God gave us both mysteries with the implicit knowledge that if you try to reveal an answer you are not capable of understanding, you have only ruined the gift. Becoming all-knowing is not something God offers us.

So what about the names of God? Our feeble attempts to label the Un-labelable? Because truthfully, I do not believe that it is all folly, or God would not have used these names Himself. But no one title succeeds in capturing all facets of God’s character. This makes Him different from the sovereigns or leaders of countries or corporations. “King” represents a position, and the man who holds the title cannot be that and something else. But have you ever heard of someone who was called a servant and a king? A lion and a lamb? There is a reason God introduced Himself to Moses as simply “I Am.” He Is. 

Everything.

But of course, God knows us better than we know ourselves. He knows that if we don’t have a label for something we will label it ourselves as “fog” and “chaos” and leave it alone. So these names of His, they are gifts, little glimpses of His nature that we get to receive.

The names of God mean different things to me in different situations. When I am feeling worthless, I don’t want to hear about how God is going to smite my enemies, and when I’m happy I don’t particularly need Him to be a comfort. But often I need a Friend. I need the Physician to “stitch my wounds with holy sutures.” I know what it’s like to lie awake in bed at night with tears soaking your pillow and your mind screaming for the Messiah to come and save you. The picture is a familiar one.

Because I know that He is Hope, I rely on Him for my hope. Because I know that He is Good, I trust Him with my future and my potential. Because I know who He is, I expect Him to be who He is.

This is the gift God has given us: His definition. Knowing well that we can never come to fully understand His essence, and yet giving it to us. The identity of this priceless, precious God. And if that doesn’t make you feel like you’ve just been handed the greatest treasure you could ever imagine, well then your imagination is too small.

So why do I say this? What does it matter if we know who God is? On the surface that sounds horribly callous, but after all, if we’ve been given this gift to do nothing with it, it might not be that great of a gift. But I don’t believe that that is what God had in mind when He offered us His names. He expected us to use them.

I read a book lately about the power in a name. It left me thinking, because the writer had given this name the ability to drastically, visibly change things. The parallels to scripture were too strong to ignore, and I found myself thinking, “There is power in the name of Jesus. At the name of Jesus every knee shall bow, every tongue shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.” At His name. There is power in His name. He has put Himself into each of these titles, giving them His own strength. He didn’t just give us His definition.

He gave us Himself.

And this is why I cringe when my fellow Christians seem so unaffected by this revelation. This is why I fight for the awareness and the strength to give the mention of God’s name the respect it is due. This is why I have compassion for those who use God’s name in ignorance, because they are, with every curse, accessing the holy, perfect God, the Imaginer, the Creator, the Sustainer – and they have no idea. We should not be motivated to share the Gospel because it will keep sinners from eternal Hell, but because it will give them pure, unadulterated access to this ultimate Joy, ultimate Everything, forever. Since the birth of humanity God has been drawing us back to Himself.

Perhaps these names are the bridge, rebuilding the one sin burned down. Perhaps they are a key, unlocking a limitless storehouse of goodness and gratification. Perhaps the answer has been right before our eyes all along. The remedy to all our suffering and squalor and sadism.

Perhaps it is in His name.

And thus, Himself.

(Update: I realized that I would be remiss if I didn't mention the post that started this whole train of thought in the first place. Click here to read it.)

~Margaret