Forever Himself, Forever Good

My older daughter’s name is Lily. Lily Jean Ardavanis. As I’m writing this chapter, she is almost two years old. Lily loves to dance, consumes heaps of strawberries, wears a ladybug costume every day, and sleeps, on average, fourteen hours a night (thank the Lord). 

We named our daughter Lily because we were drawn to Jesus’ teaching on the subject we are examining — how Jesus tells His anxious followers to consider the lilies. My wife and I liked the name Lily, and as parents we have the authority to name our child (which is crazy when you think about it).

Names stick with you. You carry them and are called by them your entire life. What’s interesting, however, is that Lily’s name (like every other name) was given to her before we knew anything about her. What could we possibly know about her idiosyncrasies, personality, disposition, gifts, or temperament while she was still in the womb? Her name doesn’t in any way shed light on who she is. Her name is a title.

Shakespeare, in his tragic play Romeo and Juliet, penned the line: What’s in a name? The thrust of Juliet’s question draws our attention to the arbitrary and irrelevant nature of the titles we possess. Names don’t detail our identities and characters. A man named John could be a saint (like John Bunyan) or a mass murderer (like John E. List). But the answer to Juliet’s question, “What’s in a name?” applies only to creatures and differs when we speak of the Creator.

In Scripture there are dozens of different names for God, but God’s names are not like human names. Why? Because His names are not mere titles; they are consummate and representative of His character. Who He is, how He operates, and how He relates to His children are revealed in the names He gives to us in His Word. Furthermore, God’s name is not “God.” That’s His title. His title tells us what He is.

But God’s names tell us who He is.

One of the most precious names for God in Scripture is “Father.” If we don’t see God as Father, we will have a distorted view of Him. Moreover, if we fail to know God in light of His other names, His other attributes, then the value and comfort we derive from His fatherly care will be diminished.

In Scripture, God is referred to as the following: 

El Shaddai: “The Lord, God Almighty.” We see this name seven times in Scripture.

Jehovah Jireh: “The Lord will provide.” We see this name only once, in Genesis 22:14.

El Olam: “The everlasting God.” We see this name four times throughout the Old Testament.

Jehovah Shalom: “The Lord is Peace.” We see this name only once, in Judges 6:24.

Are you anxious? Are you despairing? Then find comfort in the names of God! Why? Because God’s names aren’t mere titles — they tell us who He is and detail why we should trust Him. Interestingly, the most common and most important name for God has, until recently, rarely been translated in true form when we read our English Bibles. These subtle translative decisions have, over time, affected the way we see God. 

Diplomats and Deists

The man on the United States one-hundred-dollar bill, Benjamin Franklin, was a deist who had a philosophical and rationalistic view of God and this world. People who adhere to this theological framework do not deny the existence of God altogether; rather, they view God as a clockmaker who wound up the universe and then walked away to become a distant observer and casual spectator of the affairs, events, and history of mankind. To a deist, there is a God, but He is in the stadium of Heaven eating popcorn (lightly salted), not interfering, and mindlessly observing the individuals on planet Earth. To a deist, maybe God was active in creation, but now... He is retired, His feet are up, and His recliner is reclined. Therefore, don’t bother Him. He probably won’t hear you, and even if He did... He wouldn’t bother to get involved in any way.

Sadly, many professing Christians view God the same way the deists do: as a distant, impersonal, and retired deity who has little interest and involvement in the affairs of our lives. Consequently, in this view, we have every reason to be anxious! 

• If God is merely a passive observer of our lives, how on earth could we have peace?

Thankfully, of all the names of God, there is one name in particular that melts this type of unbiblical thinking. This name for God isn’t used once, twice, or even a hundred times in Scripture — it is used more than 6,800 times. It’s the name God revealed to Moses in Exodus 3, and this revelation of God’s name is the hammer that shatters the glass of the depersonalized, distant, and consequently paralyzing view of God as merely a “higher power” or an aloof deity.

To those who are anxious, knowing God by His name is helpful. Why? Because His title as “God” tells us what He is, but His name tells us who He is.

The Far Side of the Wilderness

In Exodus 3, an eighty-year-old shepherd emerges into the spotlight of Scripture. We have met this aged shepherd before, but forty years have passed, and this former prince of Egypt no longer lives in the luxury of Pharaoh’s palace but can be found tending his father-in- law’s herds in the arid, jagged, and desolate region of Midian. His name, as you likely know, is Moses.

For four decades he had been largely unseen, except by God. And as Moses led his sheep to “the far side of the wilderness” (Exodus 3:1 NIV), he came across something he had never seen: a bush that was burning and yet not consumed (v. 2). The remarkableness of this sight, being extraordinary in and of itself, was compounded when a voice spoke to Moses from the midst of the bush, saying,

“Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground. — Exodus 3:4–5

Moses trepidatiously removed his sandals and kept his distance from the One speaking to him. Then God spoke to Moses again, saying, 

“I am the God of your father — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. — Exodus 3:6

I expect you may be familiar with how the conversation between God and Moses unfolded. God told Moses that He has seen the affliction of His people and has come down to deliver them (v. 8). How? Through Moses. Moses, the former prince and present shepherd, whose life had been thrust into obscurity for four decades, would now be placed center stage in one of Scripture’s most epic stories. Moses’s response, however, was not one of eagerness but one of reluctance: 

Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt? — Exodus 3:11 

God responded by telling Moses that he would not be alone, that God would be with him. Still Moses’s uncertainty, fear, and anxiety persisted at the prospect of his duel with Pharaoh, the most powerful man on earth. Moses again asked: 

Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?” — Exodus 3:13 

Moses was anxious. He was fearful. How could he take on the armies of Pharaoh? Amid his understandable fear, his most pressing question for the One speaking to Him was, interestingly, What is Your name? In Exodus 3:14–15, God responded to Moses’s question, and in doing so He revealed not only His name but His nature — who He is.

God said to Moses, “I am who I am”; and He said, “Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I am has sent me to you.’… Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The Lord [YHWH], the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial name to all generations.” 

Yahweh

God responded to Moses by saying ehyeh asher ehyeh, which is translated “I am who I am” or “I Will Be What I Will Be.”

Then God told Moses to tell the children of Israel,

I am has sent me to you. — Exodus 3:14

Again, God’s name is not “God”; that’s His title. His name, as He revealed Himself to Moses, is “I am who I am.”

If you were to ask me “Who are you?” and I responded, “I am who I am,” that would be true, but it may not be the answer you were looking for. It may seem to be stating the obvious. Of course I am who I am. If I gave this answer to you, it may even seem as though I was eluding your question altogether, attempting to conceal my identity. But that wasn’t the case for God when He spoke of Himself to Moses. He was not hiding Himself; He was disclosing who He is.

The names “I am” and “Yahweh” are both derived from the same Hebrew word hiyah, which is the verb “to be.” The difference between these words is simple: Ehyeh (“I am”) is in the first per- son, and YHWH (“Yahweh”) is in the third person, meaning, “He is.” For centuries, the Jewish people were so afraid of taking God’s name in vain (in observance of the third commandment) that they would seldom, if ever, utter the name from their lips. Because of this, when they addressed YHWH, they pronounced it Adonai, which means “my Lord.”

For many years, the English translations have followed suit and routinely translate the name YHWH as “Lord.” But something personal, precious, and comforting is missed when we translate YHWH as “Lord” or when we simply refer to God as “God.” That would be like referring to my spouse as “person” instead of as “Caity Jean.” 

Furthermore, it’s one thing to believe in God, but it’s an entirely different thing to believe God and know Him by His personal name. Sadly, many professing Christians believe in God in the same way they believe in oxygen. They believe He exists, but that belief has little to do with how they live their lives. Their view of God is very similar to that of a deist. As we will observe, God’s name alone is the most powerful implication of His existence. His name means “I am,” and in a world that is grasping to know whether He is truly there, the third-person rendering of God’s name gives us the answer: “He is.”

God gave His personal name to Moses because trust in God is rooted foremost not in what He has done or what He can do but in who He is. 

John Calvin once said we can never know who we are until we know who God is.1

Moses asked the question: “Who are you?” And God responded by saying: “I am.” Is this cryptic or is this powerful? Well, let’s go back to Shakespeare’s question, What’s in a name? If God’s name simply means “He is,” then what exactly is God?

At the time Moses encountered Yahweh at the burning bush, the Hebrews were languishing under the oppression of their Egyptian taskmasters; they had been slaves for four hundred years, and their future looked bleak. And Moses, the one assigned to deliver them, needed to know that God didn’t merely exist but that God was knowable, present, and sufficient to deliver them. The name of God might seem like an interesting topic to bring up in a book on anxiety, fear, and despair, but this is one of the principal grounds in which your faith must be rooted.

1. John Calvin, Institutes, I.1.i.

Excerpted with permission from Consider the Lilies by Jonny Ardavanis, copyright Jonny Ardavanis. 

* * * 

Your Turn

God’s name, unlike our names, says everything about Him. It’s who He is! How does God’s character settle your anxiety? How does knowing Him bring you calm? ~ Devotionals Daily