Most of the articles written on this site are for one of three purposes: (1) to get us to connect with God through a more personal relationship with him, (2) to get us to connect with God through a better understanding of his Word, (3) to get us to connect with God through service to him, his people, and the world. We’re going to take some time this week and for as long as we need to connect with God a little differently. It’s time we properly introduced ourselves to him.

At my church, as in most, there is a time of meeting the people sitting around you. You introduce yourself and welcome each other. This takes place immediately following a time of worship through singing. This week one of the worship team members came down from the stage and introduced herself to me. How did she do that? The way almost everyone in every culture does, with a smile and the disclosing of their name.

Before we properly met she knew that I was a regular attender and that I sat with my parents most every week. I knew she was an accomplished guitarist and singer. Even though we both knew something about the other we wouldn’t say that we knew each other. Knowing someone requires one crucial piece of knowledge: that person’s name. Which brought a question to my mind later in the day: Why should it be any different with God?

Think about how you address God in prayer. What do you call him? Perhaps “Lord” or “father”? Those are both titles, not names. Do you know God’s name? Do you ever call him by that name? Or is the only name of God you know “Jesus”? He actually has many names, and if you don’t know them how can you say you know God? It’s time the people of God became more intimate with their God.

Of all the names of God, YHWH is the one most abundantly used in the Bible - 6,823 times! When God first introduced himself to Moses, it was with this name (Exodus 3.1-14). When Moses went to Israelites, still slaves in Egypt, he introduced himself saying he was sent by YHWH, and they all knew whom he meant. So God’s name was known very early in human history, so why is it that today we have no idea how to pronounce it?

During the temple period the pronunciation of YHWH was limited to the priests and only spoken inside the Temple. As the Name of God it surely couldn’t be shared among the people, even though as a race of slaves it was known by all. The Name was used when blessing the people and on Yom Kippur. Toward the end of the Temple period the chief priests considered many of their underlings unworthy of knowing the pronunciation and, over time, the knowledge was lost to history. While it is important to respect the name of God and never speak it as a curse, a profanity or in vain the Temple priests went too far and today we have no way of knowing how to speak God’s name.

There are theological implications to this name, of course. The idea that God is always alive, always present, and always available. It is a name Jesus takes for himself In John 8.58. As shown in that passage, this is a name for God one must use with utmost care. It is so deeply personal that it may be offensive to some if ever used flippantly. Even so, who should know the personal name of God if not his children? For this reason we will be examining all the names of God found throughout the Bible. In doing so we may have a better understanding of the one we serve and possibly a closer relationship with him.