“Because I said so!”

Virtually every dispute between my mother and me ended the same way. I would ask, in my most plaintive and frustrated voice, “But, why?” And she would reply with a discussion-ending, “Because I said so.” As an example of a well crafted and thoughtfully delivered argument in defense of a finely tuned, rational, position, it was lacking. As a demonstration of authority, it was powerful. It wasn’t until much later that I learned that God sometimes resorts to the Because I said so gambit. And it was still later that I learned what a powerful promise his Because I said so actually is.

My name is David, because my mother said so long before I had a say in the matter. My father, likewise, had no say in the matter, mostly because he was married to someone else at the time and likely wished I hadn’t been born. Had I ever met him, I could have told him I also sometimes shared that wish. A bastard son often feels his unworthiness, their unwantedness, in a deep, deep, part of themselves.

Growing up, there were always two or three Davids in my classrooms, it seemed like, and I would often wish for a different, less common, name. My mother told me David was from the Hebrew meaning Beloved of God, which I thought was sweet, but inconsequential. I would have settled for being liked by my classmates.

Then I read the story of Peter meeting Jesus and how Jesus gave him a new name. Simon became Peter, which means rock (John 1:42), and in some way this name change actually predestined Peter’s transition from an undependable, flighty, weak, impulsive, individual into the apostle who would stand boldly in front of those who would want him killed and proclaim the the gospel of a dead and risen Christ. Jesus named the heroic Peter into existence. Peter became Peter because God said so.

I have spent most of my life chasing love, affection, and affirmation, as do many, many, people. In the last year or so, I’ve come to embrace the truth of my name. David. Beloved of God. Loved beyond measure, not by argument or because I deserve it, but simply because God says I am. I am being changed day by day from that insecure, self-loathing, little boy who saw nothing about himself that was worthy or lovable into a man beloved. Like Peter’s transition, it is slow going at times, and I occasionally slip back into old habits and patterns of thought, but the slippage doesn’t change my name. I’m still Beloved. I will always be Beloved. Upon that truth I will build my life.

What is your new name, given by God (Revelation 2:17)? Who is God is calling you to be? More than that, for what purpose has God designed you? Whatever the answer to those questions is, it is there you will find a hint of your new name. Peter became a rock, steady and firm, and spoke the truth to those from whom he had fled in fear just days before. There is no argument that can make a man change like that. I am resting in the peace of knowing I am loved. By a Father. Not because I won a debate, but simply because God said so. What is God’s “because I said so” about you?