In Your Hour of Crisis, What’s Your Name?
“Does anybody need anything changed today? Are there any attitudes that need adjusting, or relationships that need mending, or sins that need to be forsaken? Do you need God to change something in your life? Here’s the thing: God never wants to leave us in our mess. No, God wants to change us and help us get rid of the dirty diapers in our life.” – Tony Walliser
Read Genesis 32:1-30
In Your Hour of Crisis, What’s Your Name?
For some of us, our relationship with God consists of moving from crisis to crisis. When things are going well, we feel fairly self-sufficient, as if to say, “That’s okay, Lord, I’ve got this.” We continue this way until we encounter some huge obstacle or a major problem arises. Then our tune changes to, “Uh, Lord, I don’t think I’ve got this. Help!”
But He doesn’t want to be our safety valve or security blanket. God wants all of us, 24/7, and desires to transform us. As we’re told in 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!” The Lord uses our crises, our circumstances, to draw us to Himself and give us new identities as His children.
This isn’t some new concept. It’s as old as the oldest parts of the Old Testament. We’re introduced to a fellow named Abram at the end of Genesis 11. In the next chapter we read about God directing him, “Leave your country, your people, and your father’s household and go to the land I will show you. I will make you into a great nation…. I will make you great” (Genesis 12:1-2). Sounds good, right?
A few verses later we meet Abram’s wife, Sarai, who joins her obedient husband in leaving the comforts of home and moving to a strange land of God’s choosing. Things are going well for them except for one thing – Sarai is childless, not good for passing on the family legacy.
There’s a lot more to this story, but Abram’s faith never wavers. In response, the Lord gives him a new name: “No longer will you be called Abram; your name will be Abraham, for I have made you a father of many nations…” (Genesis 17:5). Suddenly, the renamed Abraham has a new identity and God starts to fulfill His promise that He continues to honor today:
“I will make you very fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will come from you. I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you…to be your God and the God of your descendants after you” (Genesis 17:6-7).
This isn’t a unique occurrence. We see Jacob getting a new name – Israel – as this far-from-perfect man engages in a wrestling match with the preincarnate Christ. He says in Genesis 32:28, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with men and have overcome” (Genesis 32:28). To this day, Jews trace their lineage back to this man who was given the new name Israel.
Perhaps the most familiar example of a man whose name was changed to reflect the internal change God had made was Saul, the zealous Pharisee whose mission had been to persecute and kill as many Christians as possible. “And Saul was there, giving approval to [the apostle Stephen’s] death” (Acts 8:1). How could God ever accept and redeem a man like that?
In the next chapter, however, we find Saul encountering Jesus on the road to Damascus, where he’s miraculously transformed. The one-time enemy of Jesus’ followers becomes the strongest and loudest witness for Christ. For years Saul partners with another bold believer, Barnabas, and then we read these words: “Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit…” (Acts 13:9). He’s suddenly Paul, the old “Saul” fading in the rearview mirror.
What does this have to do with us? It’s simply that when we are “born again” (John 3:3), we become the new creations in Christ mentioned earlier. And reflective of that, we’re promised that like Abram, Jacob, and Saul, we too will one day receive new names.
How do we know this? This is the assurance given to us in the Bible’s last book, Revelation. Speaking of people who persevere in their faith, it says, “…To the one who is victorious, I will…give that person a white stone with a new name written on it, known only to the one who receives it” (Revelation 2:17).
Have you ever received a medal or trophy for some accomplishment? A trophy of sorts awaits every one of us who remains steadfast and faithful in our walk with Christ – a new name. What that will be hasn’t been revealed yet, but what a wonderful moment that will be! Just like Abram becoming Abraham, Jacob becoming Israel, and Saul becoming Paul.
The Lord is in the transformation business. And the “stamp” to signify His transforming work in our lives is complete will be our new name. Paul writes in Philippians 1:6, “being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”