The Lord Who Sanctifies You – Jehovah Mekeddeshem

Our exploration of the names of God has presented us with some pretty interesting words that are completely foreign to our English language. The name we are looking at today is perhaps the most foreign of them all. But by the time we are done, I pray it is a name that fills you with joy and hope. But before we get there, we have to briefly walk through some heaviness.

The Lord, the one who is holy just as He is, is the only one who has the ability to take us and make us into what we need to be.

We know as humans that we are not perfect. We don’t always do the right thing. We don’t always treat others the way we should. And that can still be true even when we try really hard. We often find ourselves joining in Paul’s lament when he says, “I do not do the good that I want to do, but I practice the evil that I do not want to do” (Romans 7:19). Because of this it can feel completely bewildering and downright discouraging to read all of the places in the Bible where God says, “Be holy” (see Leviticus 20:26; Hebrews 12:14; 1 Peter 1:16, just to name a few). How are we supposed to do that? We can’t even score a perfect hundred when we want to get it right, not to mention all the times that we really don’t care about doing what we should. (We all have those moments whether we’re willing to admit it or not.) We aren’t going to meet that goal, so why would we ever think that we should start?

We have the courage to start and press forward because of Jehovah Mekeddeshem. This name first appears in Exodus 31:13, where God says, “I am the Lord who consecrates [or sanctifies] you.” Sanctification is the process of being made holy, and God knows it is not a process we are equipped to manage on our own. That’s why Scripture also tells us things like “Now may the God of peace himself sanctify you completely” (1 Thessalonians 5:23); and “I am sure of this, that he who started a good work in you will carry it on to completion” (Philippians 1:6). We are not responsible for making ourselves into who we need to be. God makes it clear to us that we are to “be holy because [He is] holy” (Leviticus 11:44). The Lord, the one who is holy just as He is, is the only one who has the ability to take us and make us into what we need to be. And He promises to do that for those of us who give our lives to Him. That’s amazing news!

When we think too much about ourselves, every failure can make us want to quit. “Why do we even try?” we ask ourselves. So when we fail, we need to bring ourselves back to the Lord Who Sanctifies Us, rather than get lost in ourselves, and fall on His mercy. As long as we are alive, He isn’t going to stop transforming us more and more to make us more like Christ. And we have extra hope in knowing that when we leave this life and are in eternity with Him, we will be perfected—finally complete because of His gift of life. The next time you feel discouraged, cling to that promise, and let it grow you into a person you never imagined you would become.