Day 8: Do You Know Him?

I posted this to Facebook today, but I thought it was too good not to post here, as well.  As we study the Hebrew names of God it is important for us to remember that God came to earth through His son Jesus.  The video describes Him much better than I ever could.

Day 7: A Wedding Story

El Shadday, God Almighty

As I stood alone on the front steps, cars honked their horns as they flew by the old stone church.  I am sure I was quite the sight, dressed all in white in my Cinderella style wedding dress.  I can even remember someone yelling, “Let the bride in!”.

Inside the church, my bridesmaids were walking up the aisle as my best friend waited for me on the alter.  Outside the church, I was a bundle of nerves as I prepared to make the biggest commitment of my life.

Standing on the altar, in front of family and friends, I made a covenant with my beloved.  I promised to forsake all others, to love him no matter what, to stay with him through the good and bad for the rest of our lives.

A marriage covenant is the biggest commitment that most of us will ever make in this life, but it palls in comparison with the covenant that El Shadday, God Almighty has made with His people.

Genesis 17 tells the story of God making a covenant with Abram.  Abram is old, 100 years old and without children.  God tells him that he is going to be the father of many nations and that kings will come from Abram’s line.  God says, “I will establish my covenant as an everlasting covenant between me and you and your descendants after you for the generations to come, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you.”  As a sign of this covenant God changes Abram’s name to Abraham.

I love that God reveals himself as El Shadday, God Almighty when he makes this covenant with Abraham.  What God promises is no small task and only an all mighty God is able to follow through on a covenant such as this.

We make promises and break them all the time.  Marriage covenants are made and broken.  I know, because my parents stood on the very same altar I did and took the very same vows only to break them 10 years later.

El Shadday never breaks His promises.  All throughout the bible and human history we see evidence of God following through on the covenants He has made with His people.  We see the fulfillment of God’s promise to Abraham in the nation of Israel.

The prophet Jeremiah writes, “Behold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the house of Judah, not like the covenant that I made with their fathers on the day when I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant that they broke, though I was their husband, declares the Lord.  But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declared the Lord: I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts.  And I will be their God, and they shall be my people.  And no longer shall each one teach his neighbor and brother, saying, “Know the Lord, for they shall all know me, from the least of them to the greatest, declares the Lord.  For I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”

The prophets words are fulfilled in the birth and atoning death of Jesus Christ on the cross.  Through Christ we now have a new covenant with God.  One that we will never be able to break.  God’s words will not be written on tablets as in the old covenants, but rather on our hearts.  There is no longer a need for a faithful remnant to teach the unfaithful majority to know God, for all covenant partners will know Him.

And most importantly, “He will remember our sin no more”.

In the book of Revelation we see another wedding depicted, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure.”  This time the bride is us, those who have placed our faith in Jesus for the forgiveness of our sins and the groom is Jesus Christ himself. 

We will forever worship, El Shadday, God Almighty, who in His ultimate wisdom and power kept the covenants that He made with His people at the beginning of all time.

Background

The Hebrew El Shadday (EL shad-DAI), of translated, “God Almighty,” may literally be translated “God, the Mountain One.” Like the mountains themselves, God is seen as strong and unchanging.  El Shadday reveals God not only as the one who creates and maintains the universe but as the one who initiates and maintains a covenant with His people.  (Ann Spangler, The Names of God Study Bible)

Begging Grace

You know how you look at some women and they just seem to have it all together?  Their children always look immaculate with cute outfits and matching hair bows.  Their houses are clean, they never forget a deadline and a hair is never out of place.

I am not one of those women.  Most days I am lucky if I get my own hair brushed, let alone my children's.  My house is messy more days than it is clean and if I can find a matching top and bottom for my children to wear I am ahead of the game.  And let's not even talk about deadlines . . .

Now, throw in the fact that my husband has been gone all week and I feel like I am struggling to keep my head above water.

I share all this to ask that you will give me grace in regards to today's Knowing God blog post. 

Today I ask that you just reflect on the names of God that we have studied this week and ask Him how you can apply what you have learned to your daily life.

I also suggest visiting one or two of my favorite blogs listed over at the right side of this page.

We will be back tomorrow with our regularly scheduled program . . .

Day 5: Yaweh Ropheka, The Lord Who Heals

“Yaweh is the builder of Jerusalem.  He is the one who gathers the outcasts of Israel together.  He is the Rophe of the brokenhearted.  He is the one who bandages their wounds.” Psalm 147:2-3

I had just been given two pain pills and a dose of Benadryl before we got the news.  Abigail's small body was failing and her doctor needed to see me right away.  My mind desperately tried to focus on the words that the doctor was sharing as my body fought to fall asleep.  “She is very, very sick . . . her lungs are like that of a 25 week old preemie . . . we believe there is an infection in her blood stream . . . she will most likely not make it through the next 72 hours . . . we need you to be prepared to lose her.”

Sunday, March 19th, 2006 was the day that my life changed forever.  I was 25 weeks pregnant with our first child and anxiously awaiting my husband to return from a business trip that had him overseas for the previous month.  I decided to lay down to take a nap before picking him up from the airport.  When I woke up I discovered that my water had broke.  And thus began the most intense roller coaster of emotions I have ever been on in my entire life.

When I first arrived at the hospital, my OBGYN started to comfort me on the loss of my baby.  I was completely stunned.  My baby was still alive!  I politely told her that my God was bigger than her assessment of the situation and that I was trusting in Him for my daughter's life.

It was at this point that I was transferred to a hospital that was better able to care for us.  I laid in that extremely uncomfortable hospital bed for two weeks, all the while praying for the safe delivery of my precious child.  The day came when they were no longer able to safely hold off delivery and Abigail Rose was born via emergency c-section. 

You know how expectant mothers dream of what the moment is going to be like when their baby is born? How they wonder what it is going to be like to hold their child for the first time and gaze into their eyes?  I never got the moment that I had been dreaming about for the past 5 months.  Abigail was wisked away to the NICU immediately after being born.  I barely even got to see her. 

And now, here I was, 8 hours later being told that she would most likely not survive.  As I was wheeled into the NICU to see her for the first time, my senses were bombarded with all of the alarms and noises that are the constant chorus of the place that would become our home for the next 89 days.

Abigail at about two weeks old.

She looked so extremely fragile, barely the size of my hand, just two pounds nine ounces.  Her little body was vibrating from the force of the ventilator that was keeping her alive.  Her eyes were covered to protect them from the bright light that shone down in an effort to help her break down toxic bilirubin.  What I remember most, though, were her legs.  She was kicking them straight up in the air.  I would come to look for those legs each time I walked around the corner as I entered the NICU.  The doctors and nurses said that it was a sign that she was a fighter.

Over the course of the next few days, I sat beside my daughter’s isolette and prayed.  My family prayed.  Friends prayed.  They asked their churches to pray.  Eventually people from all over the country were praying for my daughter.  And Yaweh Ropheka, The Lord Who Heals, heard our prayer.

When Abigail was taken off the ventilator six days after her birth, the doctor said that he had no explanation as to why she was doing so well.  We knew, though, Yaweh Ropheka had heard our prayer.  When they informed us that there was a problem with her heart that would most likely need surgery to repair, we prayed.  The next day, when the cardiologist performed his scan, her heart had been healed.  Yaweh Ropheka had heard our prayer.  When they came to us and told us that her brain was bleeding, we prayed.  The next day the bleeding stopped.  Yaweh Ropheka had heard our prayer.

Time and time again, the Lord looked down upon us with mercy and choose to answer the prayers we prayed for our little girl.  The baby who was not going to make it through the first 72 hours of her life is now an energetic, outgoing five year old who is whizzing through her math lessons and is loving learning to read.  The baby with the damaged lungs who could not breath on her own for the first six months of her life is now the little girl who can belt out a broadway style tune the likes of Barbara Streisand (we’re still working on her pitch).

Proudly displaying her new bible at Awana Cubbies graduation

I do not know why God choose to heal my little girl and why He allows others to perish or to suffer disability.  My heart breaks for the families whose outcomes our not like our own.  But I have no explanation for the survival of my daughter other than Yaweh Ropheka choose to answer the prayers of many and heal her.

Just as Yaweh Ropheka healed my daughter’s physical heart and head, He also works to heal our spiritual hearts and minds.  I carry deep wounds in my heart that were inflicted by my earthly father, but the Great Physician is ever so gently healing those wounds.  A constant litany of negative self-talk runs through my head, the replaying of hurtful things that were said to me and the hurtful things that I say to myself.  God is healing my mind by replacing those falsehoods with the truth of His word.

As a gaze into Abigail’s room while she sleeps under the delicate canopy of purple and green flowers, I sing praises in my heart for the great things that He has done.  I am also inspired to be bold in praying for healing.  Yaweh Ropheka still heals!  I am challenged to pray not just for physical healing for myself and those that I love, but for spiritual healing, as well.

And hopefully I will again be able to say, Yaweh Ropheka heard my prayer.

Background

The Hebrew word rophe means “heal,” “cure,” “restore,” or “make whole.”  Shortly after his people left Egypt for the Promised Land, God revealed himself as Yaweh Ropheka, the Lord Who Heals.  The Hebrew Scriptures indicate that God is the source of all healing.  (Ann Spangler, The Names of God Study Bible)

Further Study: Exodus 15:20-27

Day 4: El Roi, The God Who Sees Me

“Hagar named Yahweh, who had been speaking to her, ‘You Are El Roi.’  She said, ‘This is the place where I watched the one who watches over me.’”  Genesis 16:13

“I’m scared!”, Abigail cries as I push our three person stroller through the parking lot.  The night sky shines above us at the end of a wonderful day of visiting with family.  But Abigail’s joy has been replaced with fear, for she is afraid of the dark.  I try to comfort her with all the things that mothers say, “There’s nothing to be afraid of.  I won’t let anything happen to you.  It’s just night time.”  None of this brings any comfort to her and the whines and cries continue to ring out in the darkness.

Then comes one of those moments when you are both humbled and inspired by your children.  My middle child Bethany (who is 3) says, “It’s okay Abigail.  God is always watching you.  He won’t let anything happen to you.  No need to be afraid.”  Tears well in my eyes as I am confronted with such a pure childlike faith.

As I load the girls into our messy mini-van, my heart is heavy with the question, “Do I really believe?  Do I believe that God is always with me, watching over me?”.  Unfortunately the answer is no.  In my head, maybe, but definitely not in my heart.  I admit that there have been times in my life where I have doubted His presence.  It is only in hindsight that I come to realize He was there watching over me all along.

That is why I find the story of Hagar so amazing.  Hagar, an egyptian slave whose mistress cast her off after using her to conceive a child.  In the ancient world it was a normal practice to use a slave to conceive an heir if you were barren.  Being accepted, does not make something easy, though.  Can you imagine being in Hagar’s position?  You are a slave, your master has sex and conceives a child with you and then your mistress becomes so jealous that she casts you off into the desert.  You don’t know where you will go or where your next meal will come from.

Just when all hope seems to be lost, The Messenger of Yaweh finds her and gives her direction as to what to do next.  He then gives her a promise to bless her with many descendants.  Hagar encountered God in the desert and because the Lord saw her misery and provided for her in the midst of a desperate circumstance, she called him by a name unique in the Bible, “El Roi, the God Who Sees Me”.

Oh, that I would remember this through every moment of my day.  El Roi is not just watching over me, but He SEES me.  He knows me and cares about me even when I feel as though no one else does or that no one understands who I am.

We, like Hagar, are in the desert of our sinful and barren lives until El Roi meets us.  He guides us through His Word in the Bible and has given us the promise of eternal life through His son Jesus Christ.  El Roi sees us.  He knows every hair on our head and sees the darkest place in our hearts and loves us anyway.  El Roi is always watching over us and even though we cannot always see it at the time, He is working all things for good for those who love Him.

Have you had a personal encounter with El Roi?  Can you share a time in your life where it was clear He was watching over you?

For Further Study: Genesis 16:1-6; 21:1-21, Psalm 139

Day 3: Elohim, the Creator God

“In the beginning, Elohim created heaven and earth.” Genesis 1:1

As we sort through the musty old cardboard boxes that have been stored in our garage for the past several years, I hear my husband exclaim, “I found another one!”  I look over and see him holding a piece of cross stitch fabric that has little colored “x”s splashed all over it.  What my husband has found is yet another unfinished craft project.

You see, I am a “maker”.  I love to make things.  Unfortunately, I tend not to finish things.  There is the latch-hook unicorn rug that I started when I was 7, the ceramic christmas village that I started when I was 10 and the cross-stitch baby quilt that I started when I found out that by best friend was having her first child, just to name a few.  That baby is now 10 years old.

It is because of my love for “making” that I am most able to relate to the first name given to God in the bible, Elohim.  In Genesis 1:1 we are introduced to our creator God.  Elohim is the one who created all things, the heavens and the earth, the seas and the dry land and ultimately mankind.  All living things were created by Elohim.

Unlike Elohim, I have never created anything and what I make is far from perfect.  To create means to bring something out of nothing.  In Genesis we see Elohim not just as a creator, but as a powerful and intelligent God who has authority over all things.   

I walk through my house and am greeted at every turn with some sort of unfinished project.  I find joy in the process of making, not necessarily in the final creation.  Genesis 1:31 states, “And Elohim saw everything that he had made and that it was very good.”  God takes joy not just in the process, but Elohim finds joy in His creation. 

And here is the incredible part, Elohim, creator of all things finds joy in us!  Take a moment and let that sink in.  Elohim created us, He said all that He created was good, so He finds joy in me despite what I see as my flaws.  How would we live our lives differently today if we believed this in the core of our being? 

Background

Elohim (e-lo-HEEM) is the plural form of El or Eloah, one of the oldest designations for divinity in the world.  It can refer either to the true God or to pagan gods.  Though El is used more than 200 times in the Hebrew Bible, Elohim is used more than 2500 times.  Its plural form is used not to indicate belief in many gods but to emphasize the majesty of the one true God.  Christians will recognize a reference to the Trinity, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.  (Ann Spangler, The Names of God Study Bible)

Day 2: A Confession and A Prayer

Confession time. I am freaking out about the next 30 days. Now that I have made the commitment to write about the character of God everyday, I am afraid that I will not have anything to say and even more afraid that no one will listen. I ask my self the question, "How can I teach people about really knowing God, when I still struggle with my false view of Him on a daily basis?".

My husband gently pointed out this morning (he is good at that) that I am exactly where God wants me to be. If I had it all together and were able to do this on my own strength, than He would not receive the glory. I would. If instead, I allow God to work through and in spite of my weaknesses, He will get all the glory.

And so I thought, for day 2 of this journey, we should start with prayer. That we should begin with the first part of Matthew 7, "Ask and you will receive".

"Lord God in Heaven, Elohim, The Beginning and The End, The First and the Last, Abba Father, we come to you now and ask that You will meet us where we are over the next 30 days.  You alone know where each woman stands in her walk with you.  I pray that you will prepare our hearts as we embark on this journey to really know You.

Lord, I am the least qualified of all to lead this study of You and Your Character.  Please use me in spite of my weaknesses and struggles.  Give me the words, the stories to effectively communicate the message that You have placed on my heart to share.

Reveal Yourself to us, Father.  Do not leave us the way we are, but let us find ourselves changed.  Changed, not just for our own benefit, but changed so that we can that pass on Your matchless love to those around us.

Let You alone receive all the glory.

In your matchless holy name I pray, 

Amen."

Day 1 of Thirty-One Days of Knowing God
Day 3 of Thirty-One Days of Knowing God