Your God-Given Name and Identity
January 17, 2022
1 Comment
Your God-Given Name and Identity
By Brooke Holt
“The nations shall see your righteousness, and all the kings your glory, and you shall be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will give. You shall be a crown of beauty in the hand of the Lord, and a royal diadem in the hand of your God. You shall no more be termed Forsaken, and your land shall no more be termed Desolate, but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her, and your land Married; for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.” – Isaiah 62:2-4
Yesterday, we read about God’s desire to give you a new name and in doing so, to call you to see yourself as he sees you, to know your God-given glory, beauty, and gifting, to know that you are his beloved and his delight. Did you take the time to sit with him, to bring all the painful names you have heard through the years to him, and then to listen for his name for you? What a gift to allow the one who knit you together in your mother’s womb to name you and reveal your true identity (Read Psalm 139)?
As you continue to read this passage in Isaiah, it goes from good to great. The Lord longs for you to see your glory, but not only you. He wants the nations, even the kings and rulers to see who you truly are. As his child living in the world, you have certainly experienced your share of trauma, loss, and the pain of this world. And your enemy has taken advantage of every one of those things to rob you of your God-given value as well as your God-appointed calling. The pain in your life has been an opportunity for Satan to speak lies over you. Sadly, you have believed those lies; I, too, have believed those lies. In doing so, the truth of who you are gradually becomes dimmer and dimmer.
Today, right now, the Lord wants to turn the lights back on in your life so that you can see him, so that you can receive his steadfast and perfect love for you, and then you can become all that he made you to be. This is not about what you will do for him (though knowing who you are will result in you doing the good works he has planned for you). It is about the Lord removing the lies that blind you or dim you from the truth of who you are.
You are a royal diadem in the hand of God; you are his glorious creation. You are his beloved child, the very one whom he will never leave nor forsake; you are his delight; and you are created to live in his glory and for his glory. As you do that, your life will produce light, love, life to all around you. There will be no more desolation but abundance.
God has a new name for you and a new way of living out of your true identity. You are not what the world has said, you are the one in whom the Lord delights!
Reflection:
Take some time to meditate on this truth – you are the one in whom the Lord delights. Continue to ask the Lord what he wants you to know about his love and delight. Then ask him to help you see yourself as he does and to live into your true identity. We would love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Related Resource:
Let's face it, the Christian life is hard. Relationships take work. Christians forget. Sometimes it is tempting to go back to the days when God was not the center of our lives - to backslide. We are all faced with tremendous pressures to drift away from intimacy with Jesus and the community of the Church. However, the Lord invites us to pay attention, to move forward, to draw near, and to live lives of worship. Draw Near: Hebrews on Christian Worship is a small group Bible study on the Book of Hebrews intended to lead participants into a deeper intimacy with the living God in the context of New Testament worship. Draw nearer to God in authentic worship today!
1 Response
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Randy
April 06, 2023
Brooke- Thank you for posting this important passage and information. As a man, I know my name from God. He calls me son.
Hope this message finds you well.
Randy