Little White Stone
Combing the river banks
And I will give to each one a white stone, and on the stone will be engraved a new name that no one understands except the one who receives it.
Certainly, I’m not alone in sensing the mystery behind the above snippet from Revelation 2v17. In true human fashion, we want answers.
(Un)fortunately, I don’t have answers for you. What I have is my imagination and experience.
In short, I hold that the name on said white stone is tied to a core definition of our personal character. Not just the way our DNA is coded, nor the ways we assume ourselves, nor our trauma-forged characteristics. I’m talking about the stuff that is buried really deep, the stuff that was the target of our trauma, the stuff of ourselves that underwent the attempted marring, killing, and destroying by evil, the stuff that evil did not want you to do, be, live out, accomplish.
Take it back to the garden. Satan didn’t tempt Adam & Eve to bow down to the stars, the tree or even himself; they had nearly all the freedom in the world but Satan went after that ONE thing God didn’t want for them. Why? Because Satan knew exactly how to undo God’s good creation.
And he went after it deliberately and with surgical precision.
I believe that our purpose/character is written on that stone. I also believe that Satan comes at us precisely in the areas that God created awesome and wonderful, attempting to stifle the good works that God has prepared for us.
But there is hope! Satan does not know the name on that stone - it’s known only to God and you. In other words, he’s reactionary and can only attack the good that he saw us doing. And in doing this he unwittingly exposes the important stuff that were are meant for.
Further, Satan flees at merely our resistance; how much more if we are aligned with who/how God wants us to be!
Before we get too critical and write this off as ”self-indulgent navel-gazing” and attempt to resolve this too quickly with the broad brush of “Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever” consider the fallout of tragedy, loss or confusion. It doesn’t take long before we ask “Why LORD?” We want to know what all this is for. In between the moments of hardship and glorifying and enjoying God forever we all get up to something in our life. We orient our lives around some purpose. We are seemingly purpose seekers and/or creators. And names can point us in the direction of meaning.
Maybe all this is a product of the culture with its emphasis on doing and that we sometimes seem only known by what we do. But maybe we get hints of that name by what God leads us to do/love/build/tend in this life so that he can entrust us with larger things. Maybe that reflex of our culture to find our personal purpose is not so far off after all. Maybe it’s a deeply buried God-given reflex to ask, seek and knock, and begin to discover who in the garden we were made to be.
Think about the names given to folks recorded in the Old Testament that were given for a purpose. Their names often reflected who they were as people and/or the purposes God had for them. I won’t deep-dive here - you get my point.
Consider the following two entries in Strong's Concordance:
Strong's 3686 ónoma
Definition: a name, authority, cause
Usage: name, character, fame, reputation.
Further, (figuratively) the manifestation or revelation of someone's character, i.e. as distinguishing them from all others.
According to Hebrew notions, a name is inseparable from the person to whom it belongs, i.e. it is something of his essence."
Strong's 993 Boanérges
Definition: Boanerges, an epithet applied to the two sons of Zebedee
Usage: Boanerges, sons of thunder.
We don't know why Jesus named these brothers (James, John), "sons of tumult," but their passion and boldness in the past no doubt aptly fit their future calling!
But that’s probably enough of me beating you over the head with my thoughts.
It would be ignorant of me at this point if I didn’t give a nod to my parents who gave me a bit of a headstart in thinking about all this. And that advantage is my literal name.
Daniel Michael, meaning:
God is my judge; who is like God?
I think you can see how that would have its orienting power in the hard stuff of life.
With all that said, I offer you Little White Stone.
~
how did you know? to come and look for me? how did you know that i was lost? maybe it was because i left without my little white stone on which was the name that you gave me in secret to guide me home
~
