Yahweh (2)

The name that God said we should use was Yahweh. I think that we should start obeying him and using his name.

The worst thing about our neglect of God’s name is that we end up calling him God. That makes him sound just like any other god. The Arabic word Allah and the Hebrew word Elohim come from the same root. They are generic words for a god. Giving the name God to the one true god makes him seem just like the god of dozens of other religions. But he is not. He is the God of Abraham and the God of Jesus. He is our Father, and he has a name, Yahweh that makes him unique. Since he has such a lovely name, surely we should use it.

Once when we called him Lord, it was a measure of respect. A Lord was a landlord or powerful ruler who was demanded respect and obedience. But that concept is now irrelevant. The word “lord” has dropped out of our vocabulary. We do not use it any more. The only lords we know are the English Lords in the UK House of Lords or the people dressed in fancy robes in British historical dramas. The word “lord” means very little to us, so it just becomes a name that we use for God. But why use a nickname, when God has given us his real name.

The word Lord has be captured by the world. When young people thing of someone called Lord, they think of a New Zealand-born singer called Lorde, who sings a song called Royal. They do not think of Jesus. If we speak to them about Jesus and call him Lord, they will be confused. We need better words to communicate the gospel. The word Boss would be a better word for communicating what we mean by Lord. If we said that Jesus was our Boss or Instructor, we might be more serious about obeying him.

The other benefit of calling God Yahweh is no upstart rock singer with a dark tendency will ever steal that name.

Yahweh the God of your fathers...
This is my name forever,
the name you shall call me
from generation to generation (Ex 3:14-15).