In Psalm 9:10 the Bible says, “And those who know your name will put their trust in you.” This Scripture says that people who know God’s name will trust him. It is important to know the names that God is called by in the Bible.
The reason knowing the names of God is important is that it will help us trust him with our daily affairs and with our eternal destinies because in scripture a person’s name often signifies his character or ability or mission - especially when the name is given by God.
Adam names his wife Eve, because she is mother of all the living (Gen. 3:20). God changes Abram’s name to Abraham to show that he had made him the father of many nations (Gen. 17:5). God changed Sarai’s name to Sarah (Gen. 17:15). He changed Jacob’s name to Israel (Gen. 32:28). And when the Son of God came into the world his name was not left to chance: “You shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
When our sons were born I wanted them to have names that were significant. So I named the first one David, after an uncle of mine that had been influential in bringing me back to God but also after the greatest king of Israel, God’s champion. The second one I named John, again after several Godly men that we had known that had impacted our lives, but also after the writer of the gospel that bears his name and the epistles and Revelation, a man who loved Jesus Christ and whom Christ dearly loved.
It was in hope that I named them, hope that they would be like the Godly men they were named after. Now there is a big difference between me and God (that is obviously a tremendous understatement). When I name someone, I don’t have the power or the authority to make the person fit the name. I gave names in the hope and prayer that my sons will become what their names imply.
But God has the right and the power to cause anyone He names to become what the name implies. The names He gives are sure indicators of the destiny of those He names. And when He names himself, we may be sure the name is packed with who He is and what He intends to do. God chooses names for the sake of revealing things about himself that will deepen our love for him and strengthen our faith.
In the next several days I want to examine some of the names that Scripture gives us for God and think of the implications for these names.
