The Name Game (Part III): Re-Naming Me?

As we continue our series on “naming” and its connection to oppression and power, we can read in Ecclesiastes 6:10-12,

Whatever has come to be has already been named, and it is known what man is, and that he is not able to dispute with one stronger than he. The more words, the more vanity, and what is the advantage to man? For who knows what is good for man while he lives the few days of his vain life, which he passes like a shadow? For who can tell man what will be after him under the sun?

So what does this mean and what does it have to do with our discussion? I found it interesting that the ESV Study Bible comments,

God is the one who has already named all things. To “name” something is to exercise authority over it (Gen. 2:19–20). The Preacher thus confesses that God rules over all things, and he points out that it would be foolish for mankind to dispute with God’s sovereign ordering of the world; to do so would only produce more words and more vanity.

Sometimes we don’t like the names that God has assigned and we desire to make a name for ourselves. Yet the name that the Lord makes great is to be preferred over the kind of greatness we produce ourselves. It is the difference between Babel, 

Then they said, “Come, let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth.” (Genesis 11:4).

And Abraham,

Now the Lord said to Abram, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you. And I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and him who dishonors you I will curse, and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed.” (Genesis 12:1-3)

Which of these paths do we really want to follow?

I have been aware in my life that the enemy wants me to name myself either too highly as though I were some kind of awesome specimen, or too lowly because of my past failures. 

The first is illustrated by Oprah’s self-exalting sayings found on the Starbucks’ cup sleeves.

The second is captured powerfully in the song, Hello My name Is, by Matthew West. He writes in part,

“Hello, my name is regret
I’m pretty sure we have met
Every single day of your life
I’m the whisper inside
That won’t let you forget

Hello, my name is defeat
I know you recognize me
Just when you think you can win
I’ll drag you right back down again
‘Til you’ve lost all belief

Oh, these are the voices. Oh, these are the lies
And I have believed them for the very last time

Hello, my name is child of the one true King
I’ve been saved, I’ve been changed, I have been set free
"Amazing Grace" is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true King

I am no longer defined
By all the wreckage behind
The one who makes all things new
Has proven it’s true
Just take a look at my life

Hello, my name is child of the one true King
I've been saved, I've been changed, I have been set free
"Amazing Grace" is the song I sing
Hello, my name is child of the one true King…”

While we all face an enemy like “Tobiah and Sanballat” who wants use fear to control us and “give me a bad name in order to taunt me” (see Nehemiah 6:12-13) he no longer has a right to name us. We have been set free from bondage to sin and death, and now our family is named by our heavenly Father himself. God not only has the right to name us, but the name he gives is a great gift!

“For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith…” (Ephesians 3:14-17)