peace in the names of God

Several months ago, I wrote about calling on the name of God, citing a number of passages that talk about the power of God’s name. What I didn’t do was point you toward passages on the names of God. This seems like a good time to do that; in yesterday’s post, peace: a matter of focus, I wrote about knowing God as a key to trusting Him, and by extension, a key to having peace. We looked at Isaiah 25, which tells us that God is “a stronghold to the poor.”

Psalm 9 links these two concepts, God’s name and God as stronghold:

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
And those who know Your name put their trust in You,
for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.

Again, we have this idea of trust: we can trust God more readily when we know Him more fully. In the New Testament, Peter begins his second letter thus: “May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord” (1:2). We need to know God more, and a very powerful way that I’ve discovered is through the Psalms.

Several years ago, I set out to study the Psalms, and quickly I realized that they contain a wealth of insight into God’s character. The psalmists, and particularly David, continually offer metaphors to show us God. Take Psalm 9, above, as an example: “The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed.” I started making a list of all the “You are” and “He is” and “The Lord is” statements, and I found it very encouraging. I’m going to call these names of God, though they aren’t technically names in the same way that Yahweh is. Still, just as Yahweh–I AM–gives us insight into the nature of God, so do these inspired statements by the psalmists.

Here are a few to consider:

I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised,
and I am saved from my enemies. (Psalm 18:1–3)

The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. (Psalm 23:1)

Lift up your heads, O gates!
And be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord, strong and mighty,
the Lord, mighty in battle!
Lift up your heads, O gates!
And lift them up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.
Who is this King of glory?
The Lord of hosts,
he is the King of glory! Selah (Psalm 24:7–10)

The Lord is my light and my salvation;
whom shall I fear?
The Lord is the stronghold of my life;
of whom shall I be afraid? (Psalm 27:1)

The Lord is my strength and my shield;
in him my heart trusts, and I am helped;
my heart exults,
and with my song I give thanks to him.
The Lord is the strength of his people;
he is the saving refuge of his anointed.
Oh, save your people and bless your heritage!
Be their shepherd and carry them forever. (Psalm 28:7–9)

What have we got so far? The Lord is:

• my strength
• my rock
• my fortress
• my deliver
• my God
• my rock in whom I take refuge
• my shield
• the horn of my salvation
• my stronghold
• my shepherd

(Notice how David not only describes God vividly but makes it personal? I love that repetition of my!)

• the King of glory
• the Lord strong and mighty
• the Lord mighty in battle
• the Lord of hosts
• my light
• my salvation
• the stronghold of my life
• my strength
• my shield
• the strength of His people
• the saving refuge of His anointed
• their shepherd

Look at the list we have, and this from only five psalms! In the midst of trials–as David was–imagine the peace that can come to guard our hearts and minds as we declare this list aloud: “Father, You are my rock, my shield, my strength, my stronghold, my light, my salvation…” You get the idea. My own experience has been that saying it aloud has an amazing effect. The effort required to speak quiets my mind and my emotions–I can’t have worry and turmoil running through my head when I’m listing these names of God. And then as the images accumulate, I am reminded that I really do have nothing to fear; I can indeed be at peace. I’m practicing what Isaiah said; my mind is fixed on God, and so I have His perfect peace.

Tagged as: David, God's character, king, knowing-God, mighty, names, names-of-God, peace, Peter, Psalms, refuge, rock, salvation, shepherd, shield, strength, stronghold, trust