That’s MY name
“I’m a mommy!” you would probably hear our 2-year-old daughter exclaim, if you had the opportunity to spend time with her. When asked to eat something she doesn’t want to eat, pick up her toys, brush her teeth or do anything she doesn’t want to do, the usual response is, “But I’m a mommy!” When caught doing something she shouldn’t, she will often reply, “But I’m a mommy!” Sometimes we play along, reminding her that mommies do, indeed, eat green peppers and don’t rub spaghetti sauce in their hair at dinner. Sometimes it works. But our cute little 2-year-old is obviously not a mommy, and we often have to remind her of that.
At times I get confused about my name, too. I want to take control. I want my life and the lives of those among whom I work to go exactly as I have planned. I want to be God. I want to see my ideas of justice exercised in this world. The ancient Israelites did the same. They wanted to continue living life as they desired, ignoring their covenant with God and God’s desires for their nation.
But God reminded them, and us today, through the prophet Isaiah, “I am the Lord; that is my name! I will not give my glory to another or my praise to idols” (42:8, emphasis added).
The Lord is grand, majestic, all-knowing and all-powerful. I am not. It was the Lord who “laid the earth’s foundations” (Job 38:4). Where was I at that time? I submit to the One who is from the beginning, to the One who has known me for eternity. I lay down my life and my desires to the Lord’s unfathomable will as I serve among my family and my friends on the street.
This is obedience, to remember my name and who I am in relation to God. “I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted” (Job 42:2).