Get A Different Name Day // Genesis 32:28

Happy Get A Different Name Day! I don’t know about you, but there were times earlier in my life when I contemplated a different name. Not seriously as though I’d actually follow through with it, but kinda like my sister who wanted us to call her Pinkish Red when she was a toddler. Names are important and are essentially the first gift our parents give us. I think about the adoption of our two girls and discerning their names. We came to know them first by their designation in the adoption agency before learning their names in Mandarin. When we took custody of them both, we changed their names to mean Mia (my precious) and Brighton (my beautiful light).

There are numerous accounts in the Bible that deal with name changes. Name changes often signify a transformation in identity, purpose, or divine calling to reflect a change in their spiritual journey. These name changes are deeply symbolic. I chose Genesis 32:28 for our verse to consider Get A Different Name Day: “From now on, your name will no longer be Jacob. You will be called Israel, because you have wrestled with God and with men, and you have won.” This is when God changed Jacob’s name (which originally meant, deceiver) to Israel, meaning, “he struggles with God.” Israel realized his name change had a whole lot less to do with a wrestling match and a whole lot more about the restoration from the damage he caused in his relationships. Israel was able to move past Jacob’s failures to embrace the promise God had for him all along.

I don’t know about you, but I struggle with God sometimes…a whole lot more than with my own name these days. That struggle, though, helps me put my focus on the Lord as opposed to the situations I find myself in at any given time. God might not change your name to Israel, Abraham, Sarah, or Peter, and He might not change it to Pinkish Red, Frankenstein, Nighthawk, or Dragon. What God does want to do is change your nature as He saves you. Then, you’ll be a new creation (2 Corinthians 5:17), called a friend (John 15:15), and known as a child of God (John 1:12). If you want to get a different name today, may I suggest that’s where you begin?