When God changes your name….

During our story group with students today, we told the story of the birth of Isaac. Before Isaac was born, though, Abram had an encounter with God. Years before, when Abraham was 75, God promised him that He would make him a great nation and that all the nations of the earth would be blessed because of him and his family. And no child was born. Abram waited. And waited. And waited. For 24 years.

Abram started to think God had forgotten him. He went to God a couple of times, saying, “Okay, don’t forget You told me…” And still, no children. (Except for Ishmael… but that’s another story.) When Abram was 99 years old, God came to him. He made a covenant with Abram, reminding him that He would bless him with children… multitudes of children. And this is when God gets a little crazy: He changed Abram’s name to Abraham. Abraham means “father of many nations.” What a name for someone who only had one child… and an illegitimate one at that!

As we were discussing the story, Sharon, one of the students who’s about 10 years old, pointed out that Abram allowed God to change his name to Abraham. What kind of faith did it take to go around saying, “Hi, my name is “Father of Many Nations” when you don’t have any kids? And yet, he believed God. He believed that he was, and would be, who God said he was, even though there was absolutely no proof.

Sharon was right. And so often, we don’t allow God to change our names. We hear what He says about us, that we are a new creation, that we can do all things through Him, that He has good plans in store for us, that He loves us. But we don’t believe it. We don’t call ourselves by the name He gives us. We don’t walk in confidence of who He says we are. Oh, that I could be more like Abraham, to walk in the faith that I am who He says I am…. even though it doesn’t always look like it.

Thanks for the Word, Sharon!