The names of God reveal his character, his ways and who he is for you personally. God has invited you into a relationship journey with him, and knowing all of his names mentioned in scripture will build your relationship with him. After all, he knows everything about you – don’t you think it’s important we learn all we can about him too?

Name are important in the bible. When a family named their child, it was with great thought and intention. That name would become their identity. God has an identity to share with us in his names. An identity that gives us promises.

Psalm 9:10, “Those who know your name trust in you, for you, O LORD, do not abandon those who search for you.” Now, let’s get to know his names so we can trust him even deeper.

First, the name God gives himself, YHWH.

The name YHWH appears over 6,000 times in Scripture, but in English we see it translated in a unique way – LORD (all caps). Every time you see LORD (all caps) in your bible, what you’re actually seeing is the ancient Hebrew, YHWH.

Look at Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my Shepherd” it’s actually saying “YHWH is my Shepherd.”

Ancient Hebrew did not include vowels. It was hard to read and very few people knew how to read. So instead God’s word was heard and then memorized. While those original transcripts of Hebrew bible include the written name of God as YHWH, it wasn’t spoken and therefore lost.

Why wasn’t the name of God spoken? Jewish tradition was to never speak the name of God aloud out of reverence. (Exodus 20:7, “You must not misuse the name of the LORD your God. The LORD will not let you go unpunished if you misuse his name.”

What they wouldn’t even speak, we use so casually. Where is our awe? Where is our reverence?

Most scholars believe “Yahweh” is the closest reconstruction of how YHWH was originally pronounced,

This name, YHWH, the name of God ,sounds like breathing.

God gives himself a name we cannot speak, but instead we BREATHE. YHWH.

This name, YHWH, is made of breathy consonants with no vowels. It couldn’t be pronounced, but rather breathed in and breathed out.
Inhale YH
Exhale WH
In awe, in reverence. YHWH.

Later, we added vowels to make it a name we could pronounce, Yahweh, the name of our God.

This is a name introduced in Genesis 2 now appearing as LORD in all caps, but explained in Exodus 3: 15 when Moses asked God for his name and God answers with, “Yahweh, the God of your ancestors – the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”

YHWH – Root word “to be” – the self-existing one, the ever-present one (the ONLY one who can say this)

Inhale YH
Exhale WH
The name of our God through breath.

Your breath is a God-given rhythm of dependence.

Genesis 2:7, “God breathed life into us.”
Without God, you don’t breathe. Without God, your lungs have no air. Without God, you simply do not exist. The moment he stops filling your lungs with his breath is the moment you no longer exist in this life. You are, and always have been, and always will be, completely dependent on God. It is the rhythm of your breath.
Inhale, God I need you. Exhale, thank you, I give it back to you. Now God I need you again, inhale.

Think of breathing like a game of catch. God throws you breathe, you receive it, then you give it back to him. And so the rhythm continues. Given and received, then given back, to receive again.

And this is NOT AN ACCIDENT. This is God-designed for his creation. A rhythm of dependence that speaks his holy name.

With your very first breath, you spoke the name of God. YHWH. –
Psalm 8:2 MSG, “Nursing infants gurgle choruses about you; toddlers shout the songs that drown out enemy talk and silence atheist babble.”

In every crisis that caused you to gasp for air, you spoke the name of God louder. YHWH.
With complete unawareness on an average of 20,000 times every day of your life, you’ve been speaking the name of God. YHWH.

And in your final breath, you will speak his name. YHWH.

All of creation is wired to speak the name of the Creator. Psalm 150:6 (the very last line of all of the book of Psalm closes with), “Let everything that breaths sing praises to the LORD!”

Every inhale is a gift. Every exhale is a reminder. Every breath is a connection, calling on the name of our God. YHWH.

You breathe with no intention, it’s just natural. You breathe without awareness, it’s habit. You breathe for survival, but truly it’s sacred. Since the very beginning, you were designed to speak the sacred name of God with your every breath.

Let’s return to our posture of AWE – God is too holy to speak of casually, so let us breathe with awe and reverence.

God gives himself a name we cannot speak, but instead we BREATHE. YHWH.

Your life is meant to be a constant communion and connection with God. You don’t have to constantly be in prayer, how about you just start being aware of what your breath really is – a call to the name of God. A connection with your creator and your sustainer.

Remember, when you see LORD in all caps in your Bible, this is YHWH, the name God reveals of himself. The name that is spoken in your breath.

Psalm 23:1, “The LORD is my Shepherd” means YHWH. The I AM. The self-existing one. The ever-present one. The only one given the name YHWH which we speak with our breath. Girl, that’s your Shepherd. Whom shall you fear? He’s the one guiding you. He’s the one taking care of you. He’s the one staying close to you. YHWH is your Shepherd, you have absolutely nothing to worry about – ever.

Now, when we read it, may we recognize this isn’t just a title, this is a personal name. The name God has given himself. The name he created us to breathe our entire lives as we draw close to him.

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