But now says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, and now He who formed you, O Israel: “Fear not. For I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; You are Mine. Isaiah 43:1
When we meet someone for the first time, it is customary to say something like “Hi. My name is,” and we extend our hand in a gesture of good will. Our name is the first thing most of us will share with a stranger that we are trying to get to know. In previous generations, one’s surname or last name gave details about who parents are, where we came from or the occupation one might perform. Say if a man’s dad’s name was John, he might say my name if Bob, John’s son. And the more he identified himself as John’s son, it turned into the surname of Johnson. Or perhaps one lived by the rivers and they would say, I am Bob from the rivers. Soon he would just introduce himself as Bob Rivers. Last names were also used to tell a person’s occupation. Can you guess what role a person had in a community if their last name was Baker? Carpenter? Knight? Many times, we can tell a person’s ethnic background, from the country their ancestors came from. When you learn someone’s last name is Patel, you know their family was from India, Rossi is Italian, Levy is Jewish descendant, Sato comes from a Japanese family and Walsh is of Irish heritage. My last name is Nesmith and it is Scottish for nail smith. Someone in my husband’s genealogy made nails for a living. Etymology is the study of where words came from and how the word originated. Even our first names have a significant meaning to our parents when they named us. Sometimes parents choose family names, a child may be named after someone they admire, or some parents name a child according to the meaning of the name. The names a parent chooses can provide identity and culture, have a psychological impact, and even have a professional impact later on. Some of the worst names that were chosen in the Bible is Ben-Oni which means son of my sorrow. When Rachel died in childbirth, they wanted to name the son of my sorrow and Jacob changed his name to Benjamin, son of my right hand. Another poor choice is found in 1 Chronicles 4 and Jabez was named because the mother bore him in pain. Can you imagine the scars that would leave on a child to be reminded that he was born in pain? It is interesting to study first names and their meanings. One year at our annual women’s foot washing, God had me study each of the women’s names and to speak life over them by the character of the names they were given. I was amazed how the meaning of the name was true to their character. The names of God in the Old Testament were a reflection of His character. When a person was referring to God, His name started with Jehovah and ended with a specific attribute. Jehovah Rapha is the Lord that heals, Jireh-provider, Shalom-peace, Raah-shepherd. Unless we do a formal name change, we are stuck with the name our parents gave us. Sadly, the people we come in contact with try to rename us and too often we allow them to change our character and who we are by the names they give us. No, they do not try to actually change our birth names, but they say cruel assumptions trying to get us to believe their lies and we take on the character of the names they called us. When we were newly married, I struggled with my in-laws. For example, my mother-in-law always had to have Thanksgiving and Christmas lunch on my sister-in laws family schedule. The only time all year long all four of my siblings and my family got together was at lunch on Christmas Day. My family traditions were never considered and I was expected to show up without question even though I would not get to see my whole family for another year. Whenever I tried to accommodate seeing my family, I was told “You are always the problem.” Sadly I began to believe the lies and believe that I was a problem, one holiday season was very painful and I was at my parents visiting some friends of ours from Colorado and one of the sisters, started prophesying over me, she said “God wants you to know that you are not the problem, instead you are the glue that will hold things together even in the family.” I was shocked, I had not shared any of my pain or frustration with them and I knew the word came from God. Through the years, God healed the relationship with my in laws and I did help hold the family together even when my mother in law got Alzheimer’s, We made sure they always had a place to go every holiday and as she got worse, she would come to the shop for me to fix her hair every Friday. The enemy does not play fair, he usually attacks when we are already struggling and frustrated. For example, say a man is fired and when he goes home to tell his wife, in fear she begins to call him things like lazy, sloppy, and unmotivated. Perhaps what was truly a lay off due to lack of business, now becomes a new name that calls the man who is afraid about how he will provide for his family, lazy and a failure. The names people try to identify us with, can be so devastating especially we love and admire the person who is “labeling” or “naming” us. Maybe you failed a math test because you did not understand the concept and you rename yourself as not good at math. Then we have a self-fulfilling prophecy that we are not good at math and we quit trying, we do not study or get the help we need and we live up to the name of “not good at math” we allowed someone else or ourselves to label us. Even though the names other people put on you can cause damage, it is nothing compared to the names you call yourself. It is so easy to walk through a painful season and instead of separating yourself out from the season, we say the pain or problem is us. Too often a true accident happens and we beat ourselves up that we did not prevent it from happening. The woman in the bible who had the bleeding issue is called the woman with an issue of blood. Maybe you are facing health issues and before long the health problems are how you see yourself. For so long the church taught so hard on divorce, that if a Christian was divorced, they were almost treated as second class citizens even when the spouse was in blatant adultery and refused to repent and let God reconcile the relationship. Will you be honest for just a moment and allow the Holy Spirit to show you names that you have taken on that were really a tough season, but you accepted it as our identity? I do not want you to dwell on the event or go down a rabbit hole where you get lost in, I just want you to confess that you have allowed what others said, the way they treated you and the painful things you have gone through to change how you see who you are. Just like when we first accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we must be honest and say something in my belief system is erroneous and it needs to change. Changing how we view ourselves is not as easy as flipping on a light switch.
I have heard it said that a person gets their identity from their father. For those of you who have a great father, you had the advantage of facing life with a man who you knew had your back and was always there for you. There are some of you reading this that you almost feel angry that no one was there for you because your father had his own issues that had nothing to do with you, but left him unable and unwilling to be there for his children. Even though your earthly father abandoned his duties, Psalm 68:4-5 promises “Sing to God, and praises to His name, Extol Him who rides on the clouds, and by His name Auh, and rejoice before Him. A father to the Fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in His holy habitation. God sets the solitary in families; He brings out those who are bound into prosperity.” We all have a heavenly Father who has given us His Testaments of what He thinks of us. Yes, He is a good Father that disciplines those He loves, but He also tells us who we are and what He has placed inside of us.
John 8:31-32 “Then Jesus said to those who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are my disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free.” The Bible is truth and a sword that is a mighty weapon against the enemy who is the accuser of the brethren. When Satan came to tempt Jesus in the Wilderness, Jesus told him what was written in God’s word and the devil finally left Jesus alone. So, when the Devil tells you that you are rejected, tell him I am chosen 1 Peter 2:9. Or he tries to tell you that you are just a mess, tell him I am free from condemnation Romans 8:1. Tries to convince you that things are just too hard, tell him it is Christ who strengthens me Phillians 4:13. Perhaps he tells you that you will never change. Remind him the He who has begun a good work in you will complete it, Philippians 1:6. He will even try and tell you that you have gone too far and there is not forgiveness, but 1 John 1:9 says if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. While you are at it hit the accuser with lots of scripters telling him who you are in Jesus Christ. I am fearfully and wonderfully made Psalm 139:14, God knew me before I was formed me in my mother’s womb and called me Jerimiah 1:5. He has good thoughts for my future Jeremiah 29:11, I am the apple of His eye Zachariah 2:8, He is in my midst and will sing over me Zephaniah 3:17. No weapon formed against me shall prosper Isaiah 54:17. He will set his angels over me Psalm 91:11. When we know who we are in Jesus and learn what rights we have as joint heirs with Christ, no one else came put the wrong name on us. Hear God say, “Fear not for I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned, nor shall the flame scorch you”. Isaiah 43:1-2
Cathy Nesmith.