Isaiah 62:1-5
1 Because I love Zion,
I will not keep still.
Because my heart yearns for Jerusalem,
I cannot remain silent.
I will not stop praying for her
until her righteousness shines like the dawn,
and her salvation blazes like a burning torch.
2 The nations will see your righteousness.
World leaders will be blinded by your glory.
And you will be given a new name
by the Lord’s own mouth. 3 The Lord will hold you in his hand for all to see—
a splendid crown in the hand of God.
4 Never again will you be called “The Forsaken City”[a] or “The Desolate Land.”[b] Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight”[c] and “The Bride of God,”[d] for the Lord delights in you
and will claim you as his bride.
5 Your children will commit themselves to you, O Jerusalem,
just as a young man commits himself to his bride.
Then God will rejoice over you
as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride.
I have been dwelling on this verse for weeks now. It is so powerful on so many levels, and every few days it seems that the Holy Spirit is revealing something new to me.
Last night I was reading in "Wild at Heart" about how God initiates us, and calls us by a new name. John Eldredge gave several examples of men whose names he changed, Abraham, and Paul, and how He took these and other wise men off to uncharted country to teach them His ways. This was mostly pointing to men, but I am now asking how this pertains in my life.
God has been revealing to me how He sheds our earthly comforts, He thwarts us so we can truly find Him. Long ago when boys were initiated they were told to go on extravagant missions to find, explore, and come back "men", mature adults capable of supporting their community and eventually their own family. God does the same to us so we can support His family, the Church, and seek lost souls. He calls us into the wilderness, places without comfort so we can find Him. These desolate places require us to lean on God alone. He shows us our weakness so he can make them stronger.
When God initiates us, he removes the names(wounds of our youth) we came to him with; burden, worthless, ugly, trouble, whatever you are carrying on your heart. Then as verse 2 says "you will be called by a new name , that the mouth of the LORD will bestow". This is a new name, your initiation has started. The new name is truth, splendor, beauty.
Now, I'm realizing his initiation is a very long process called life. We often ask the wrong questions of Him. "Why did God allow this to happen?, Why won't God let me succeed in this?" But as initiation continues, we now need a new set of questions, "what are you teaching me here? What issues in my heart are you trying to raise through this? What or How do you want me to see?" But now that we have our new name in Christ, we have put aside our wounds of our heart; we can handle things differently. We rely on God and not self. And when old wounds surface, remember your new name verse 4; Your new name will be “The City of God’s Delight” and “The Bride of God,”[for the Lord delights in you! I can't think of any better initiation.
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