The Best Name

…so that we may make a name for ourselves.
Genesis 11.4

… you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the LORD will bestow…Hephzibah. Isaiah 62.2,4

All of us want to make a name for ourselves. The early Babylonians did, and sought to perpetuate their name by building a tower to heaven. The result was that God confused their language so that they could not communicate with one another, their tower was never finished, and they were scattered over the face of the earth. So, what they sought to accomplish never happened (the tower was not finished) and what they sought to avoid happened anyway (they were scattered over the face of the earth.) The only thing they tried and accomplished was making a name for themselves. It is possible (thought there is no way to confirm it) that our word “babble” comes from the word “Babel.” So, the builders of the Tower of Babel did make themselves a name: the Babble-onians.

We have Babble-onians in our day. They have tried to make a name for themselves by building their religious towers to heaven. But their efforts have produced only a Tower of Babble; just so much confused and confusing talk of grace that ends up to be works, of a god who is really no god at all, of a savior who doesn’t really save, a redemption that doesn’t really redeem, and an atonement that doesn’t atone. Strange language, indeed! Such men have made a name for themselves, and they are welcome to it.

But the people of God have a name given to them; a name by which the LORD God calls them: Hephzibah. That may sound like a strange name to us, but it is a beautiful and glorious name. It means, “My delight is in her.” Part of the purpose of the Tower of Babel was to gain the attention and approval of God. They never got that. But, all God’s people are GIVEN that attention and approval by the sovereign decree of their God.

Oh what a name to have! He is delighted in me! Is there another name you wish to have? Can you think of better name you could make for yourself?