The God With No Name

"And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee; for thou, Lord, has not forsaken those that seek thee." -- Psalm 9:10

(This post stems from a recent small group discussion on a recent Sunday morning at church.)

Scripture records about 50 or so names for God, depending on who does the counting. I just really want to mention one point in the discussion of the names of God. Who gives God these names? In almost every case, these names are given to God by people. He rarely gives these names to himself. In fact, you could almost call him The God with No Name.

God names himself in just two instances, that I have found so far -- and I don't claim as of yet to have made a conclusive study of this. Most famously in Exodus 3, he identifies himself, speaking from the burning bush, as "I AM WHO I AM" to Moses. This is less a name, however, than a statement of fact. He is the self-existent One. Another place where he gives himself a name is in Genesis 17, he appears to Abram and identifies himself as "El-Shaddai," which means God Almighty or God All-Sufficient. This is the moment when God promises to Abram that he will be the father of many nations and makes his covenant with him. Instead of a name, this could be seen more as a declaration of one of his attributes, which Abram really needed to hear at this moment. It's no coincidence that this name is used in Job 30 times. It also is, I believe, Jacob's favorite name for God. In each of these cases, God is repeatedly reminding these men, or they remind him, that he will provide for them. That he will deliver as he promised.

Other than those two instances (and, again, I don't claim as yet to have made an exhaustive search), the names of God are assigned to him by people based on their experience of him. For instance:

• The God Who Sees, by Hagar. Genesis 16:13-14
  
• Lord of the Breakthrough, by David. 2 Samuel 5:20.
  
• Adonai, or Sovereign Lord. (Always plural, btw.) By Abraham. Genesis 15:2
• Jehovah-Jireh, the Lord Will Provide. By Abraham. Genesis 22:14
• Jehovah-Nissei, the Lord is My Banner. As in war. By Moses. Exodus 17:15

Not an exhaustive list but just a few mentions to get us thinking. The point is that God interacts with people and that they named him based on their encounters with him. And in each case the name reflects an attribute of his, not merely some cold ceremonial name. His names reveal his character -- protector, provider, listener, even our avenger as Jehovah Sabaoth, the Lord of Host, or Lord of the Angel Armies who will return to recompense every person according to his deeds, especially those deeds perpetrated against his children (Revelation 6:9-11). (This is a name God likes applying to himself, I think because his children are so important to him and which he uses to reassure us that justice will be done some day.)

Finally, Jesus reveals our ultimate relationship with God by calling him Father, more accurately rendered "Daddy" or "Pappa," he once again fulfills the Old Testament, because all those OT names reflect some aspect of his being a father.

The question this raises in my mind -- What name would I give to my heavenly Father based on my interactions with Him? I haven't fully figured that one out.