I want to know the Lord deeper. I have been walking with Him
for twenty-five plus years, and I still desire more of Him. One way that I have
come to know Him more is by studying His Names in Scripture. His divine Names
teach us His nature and character, and help us to know Him in a deeper way. I
pray that you go on this journey with me into the divine Names of God, so that
you too, will know Him in a deeper, more intimate way.
I love nature. I can watch Planet Earth forever. My dream is to live on acreage with horses, and maybe a couple jersey cows, and definitely chickens. I yearn to walk out my backdoor and down a long dirt road with nothing but wide-open spaces before me. I want to grow my own food, as much as possible. Books on living in the country, gardening and farming, and the like adorn my bookcases. Wendell Berry…hello!
I love green and the fresh rain of spring, giving life to
the dead left behind by the winter, and witnessing the growth of new life. I
love the orange, reds, and yellow of autumn that usher in the harvest, and apples
and pumpkins. The changing of the colors is a spectacular display of beauty in
nature. Though winter is my least favorite season {I don’t like being cold},
here in Colorado a fresh blanket of snow on the landscape is breathtaking. The
love I have for nature is not new, it has been a part of me since I can
remember. To say that I love nature is not quite accurate; I love creation.
My love for creation is however, surpassed by my love for the
Creator of the universe. The creation story begins in Genesis:
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth
{
1:1}.
The Hebrew Word for God is Elohim {'elohim, אֱלֹהִים}. Elohim is the first Name for God
found in Scripture, and it is the Name associated with creation. He created
everything ex nihilo (out of nothing or out of the void). The original creation
event wasn’t the making of something within time and space; that event created
time and space and everything else from nothingness.
Elohim is the plural form of
El or
Eloah.
The Name is one of the oldest descriptions for divinity; it was borrowed from
El.
It can refer to pagan deities as well as the true God.
Elohim is used more than 2,500 times in
the Old Testament, and thirty-two times in Genesis chapter one alone. The plural
form is not used to describe a belief in many gods but to emphasize the majesty
of the one true God, and Christians recognize the plural form as a hint of the
Trinity—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Beyond the first chapter of
Genesis,
Elohim is accompanied with the word
Yahweh; we see
Yahweh
Elohim translated in Scripture as
—the LORD God.
Elohim is the One who separated the water from the
land; created the moon and stars and the seasons. He created Adam and breathed
His breath of life into him, and He formed Eve from Adam’s side. This Name
holds the idea of God’s creative power, and His authority and sovereignty over
all the earth. The Bible tells us that when God brought the universe into
existence, He exerted a tremendous amount of power.
Not only did
Elohim create
the world, but He sustains it as well. The world cannot be moved, and it is
held together day-by-day; while you are sleeping, God is holding everything
together.
The Lord reigns, He is clothed with
majesty; the Lord has clothed and girded Himself with strength;
indeed, the world is firmly established, it will not be moved {
Ps.
93:1}.
Not only did Elohim create the world, but He sustains
it as well. The world cannot be moved, He holds it together with great strength
and power through His Son:
And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation
of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He
had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty
on high, having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited
a more excellent name than they {
Heb.
1:3}.
Elohim created the world, and His power is mightily
displayed in creation for all to witness. One stroke of His paint brush and we
see the green of spring, the tall, yellow sunflowers in summer, the orange and
red of autumn, the snow-capped mountains in winter, as well as lightning and thunder—all display His power in
creation. Paul tells us in Romans that
“since the creation of the world His
invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly
seen, being understood through what has been made, so that they are without
excuse”{
1:20}.
Creation
proves the existence of God.
The same power that created the world, raised Jesus Christ
from the dead to live forever more, and His strength is exercised for us as
well. The same power that raised Christ from the dead, also gives life to us
through the Spirit that dwells down inside of us {
Rom. 8:11}.
Praise
the Lord.
Further evidence of His power in creation is displayed in
the galaxy. A galaxy is a cluster of stars, and according to one estimate,
two-hundred billion stars
exist in our galaxy. Dr. Futato explains further that our galaxy is only part of
a cluster of galaxies. Our galaxy consists of twenty other galaxies in a
cluster called the
Local Cluster, which is part of a super cluster; all
together an estimated 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars exist in the
universe! Yet the Psalmist states that
Elohim counts the number of
the stars and gives names to all of them {
Ps.
147:4}. Great is the Lord and mighty in power! {v.5}
Sing to God, O kingdoms of the earth, Sing praises
to the Lord, Selah. To Him who rides upon the highest heavens,
which are from ancient times; Behold, He speaks forth with His voice,
a mighty voice. Ascribe strength to God; His majesty is over Israel And His
strength is in the skies. O God, You are awesome from Your sanctuary.
The God of Israel Himself gives strength and power to the people. Blessed
be God! {
Ps.
68: 32-35}.
When I study the heavens, I
see God’s character expressed in the order, beauty, complexity, and harmony of
the many marvelous worlds he has made.
Elohim is the Creator of this big, beautiful world.
If He has all this power in creation—creating and sustaining all you see, you
should be confident that He has the power to handle any situation that comes your
way, any trial or circumstance, He has the power to overcome the enemy—He has
already overcome him through Christ’s death and resurrection. If you need hope
today, look at creation. Walk out into this beautiful world that He made and
Loves. In awe and
wonder praise Him for His creation and know that He holds everything in His
hands. He will take care of you. The power that you see in creation declares
His glory and might. The majestic mountains that reach into the sky, the roaring
rivers, the burst of unimaginable colors of nature—all declare the glory of
God. The power that raised Christ from the dead is God’s power for you too, to
overcome even the darkest valley. He created the world, He created you. He
sustains the world, He sustains you. He promises to sustain you, and He who
promised is faithful {Heb. 10:23}.
Sustain me according to Your word, that I may live; And do
not let me be ashamed of my hope {
Ps.
119:116}.
Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting
God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary
or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. He gives strength to the weary,
And to him who lacks might He increases power {
Is.
40:28-29}.
To
believe in God the Creator means to believe that he created me along with all
other created beings. Few have progressed so far as to believe this in the
fullest sense. Martin Luther
