What God’s Name Can Teach Us About Faith During COVID-19

In some ways, a name is the most intimate way of expressing someone’s identity.

When a couple finds out they are pregnant, one of the first things they do is to start looking for a strong name that will define and shape their child’s life.

For example, my name Matthew comes from the Hebrew name “Mattiyahu,” which means “Gift of Yahweh.” By naming me Matthew my parents were declaring that my life had value and purpose; it wasn’t random or accidental.

In some ways, a name is the most intimate way of expressing someone’s identity. Names can be so powerful because they say who a person is.

As the world faces this unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic, I think we can find comfort in the meaning of one name in particular: Yahweh.

Although we tend to call the God of the Bible simply “God,” he has a personal name. You may find this name, Yahweh, translated in your Bible as Jehovah or the LORD in all caps.

This name is unique not only because it distinguishes the God of the Bible from all other deities and gods, but because of its meaning. God reveals it for the first time in Exodus 3 when he calls Moses to free the people of Israel from captivity in Egypt:

Then Moses said to God, “If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”

God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel: ‘I am has sent me to you.’”

That’s an odd way to introduce yourself. If you and I were meeting and I said, “Hi, I am …” and stopped there, you would think something was wrong with me, right? I have to fill in the blank: I am Matt, or I am a pastor, husband, ...