Yahweh

Why Yahweh.
I get questions about my tattoo all this time, and often don’t have time to fully explain it to people. There is so much to say about my tattoo and the meaning behind why I got it. Exodus 6:23. These 4 Hebrew letters are known as the original name of God, so holy that it was never spoken out loud, only written. It means “I Am”. There is also a notion of Yahweh being “The Breath of Life”. I seriously believe this to be a true meaning of God’s name, as He is the breath of life in every person. In the beginning, God breathed into Adam, giving him life. If this is true, that Yahweh is truly pronounced in the way that we breathe, then everything everywhere is constantly praising God. All over the world, no matter what language a person speaks and no matter what they believe, they are praising God’s name with every breath. The whole earth breathes, so it is not only people who praise God’s name. Arthur Waskow teaches “all four letters of God’s Hebrew name are soft consonants. If you try to pronounce them without any vowels, the sound that emerges is just like that of taking a breath”. Yahweh. God’s name is a breath of life. We exist, we live, we are, solely because we breathe. Solely because we say God’s name do we exist. God’s name is not owned by any one religious tradition, the name of God is for everyone, all over the world. Instead of being a name that divides people from one another, God’s name is unifying. Even more, to show this, God’s name is not owned by any one language. The first thing that a baby does when it is born is breathe- they praise God’s name. The last thing a person does before they die is breathe. The last thing on anybody’s lips is God’s name. Breathing is almost a kind of praying. When we need courage, or to calm down, we take deep breaths. When we are sad, we breath heavy sighs. Although in the Old Testament it was considered blasphemy to say God’s name, what if we have really been saying God’s name this whole time? Haven’t you ever wondered? Why at the beginning of time, did God choose that breathing was to be crucial to life? What if this was just God giving himself a name that nobody can help but speak during every moment of their life? The absence of God’s name on our lips would mean literal death. Psalm 150:6- “Let everything that has breath praise the Lord. Praise the Lord”. And maybe this means that the sound of our laughing is just another way to praise God. The Tetragrammaton, Yhwh itself came from the Hebrew root meaning “to be”. I still do not fully grasp an understanding of everything about His name and there is always more to learn, but this is where I am at so far.