The Names of God
07/22/2001 - El Shaddai, "God Almighty"
Americans have a weight problem. And I don't mean, w-e-i-g-h-t, like pounds and ounces. I mean w-a-i-t, like minutes and seconds. We hate to wait. We live in a culture where speed and efficiency mean everything. We buy anything that promises to help us hurry up. The best-selling shampoo in America climbed to the top because it combined shampoo and conditioner in one easy step. Domino's Pizza became the number 1 name in the pizza business because the company promised to deliver in thirty minutes or less. Their CEO said, "We don't sell pizza. We sell delivery."
Not long ago an article in USA Today said, "Taking a cue from Domino's Pizza, a Detroit hospital now guarantees that emergency-room patients will be seen within 20 minutes-or treatment is free." Did you ever go to an emergency room and get seen in 20 minutes? That's unheard of. Two hours and 20 minutes, maybe, but not 20. If you have active children like we do, who've taken us to emergency room a lot, that's almost enough to make you want to move to Detroit! "Since that offer," the paper said, "ER business at that hospital has been up 30%."
We worship at the shrine of the Golden Arches, not because they sell "good food, " or even "cheap food," but because it's "fast food." And sometimes we're moving so fast we don't even have time to go into the restaurant, so we go through the Drive-Thru and eat in our mini-vans the way God intended families to eat.
We are a hurry-sick people. And in our desperate need to hurry up, we often find ourselves doing or thinking more than one thing at a time. Psychologists have a name for that. They call it polyphasic activity. Some people call it multi-tasking. And others just call it "nuts!" You know you've pulled up next to a polyphasic person when they're in the car next to you, driving, eating a donut, drinking coffee, listening to the radio, shaving or putting on make-up, talking on their cell phone, and making gestures all at the same time. That's multi-tasking! That's sick.
What's so funny about it is that with all the time saving, technological devices that we've created, America is the most time poor country on planet earth. We may be rich in things by we're poor in time. On the other hand much of the rest of the world may be poor in things by our standards, but they are rich in time. They're not driven or hurried like we are and they live with a sense that there's always enough time every day to do what needs to be done. So relax.
And because we're such hurry sick people, waiting doesn't come easy for us. And yet in life all of us have to wait. I know singles who are waiting to get married. And I know married people who are waiting to get single again. I know people in school who can't wait to get out. And I know people out of school who can't wait to get back in. I know married couples who are waiting to have children. And I know children who are waiting to grow up and get out of the house. I know men and women who are waiting to find jobs. And I know other men and women who can't wait to retire from their jobs. I know people waiting for friends and relatives to come to know Christ. I know sick people who waiting to get well. Waiting is a big part of life. All of us right now are waiting for something.
In fact, on the highway of life green lights are few and far between. Most of the way is bumper to bumper traffic inching through yellow lights and waiting at red lights. Waiting is tough. And if the truth were known most of us would much rather do the wrong thing than wait to do the right thing.
I can remember turning thirty and still being single when most of my friends were married with children. And that was hard for me. One day I was talking to my pastor about it and he said, "Bruce, there are worse things in the world than being single." I said, "Oh yeah, what?" He said, "Being married to the wrong person. So wait for God to provide." And now I'm glad I did, he provided wonderfully. As hard as waiting can be, there's one thing worse, and that's wishing we had!
In God's divine curriculum for developing fully devoted followers of Jesus Christ, waiting is a required course. It is not an elective. God cannot develop our faith in him without prolonged periods of waiting. You can't microwave spiritual maturity. It only grows slowly in the crock pot of life.
And so this morning as we continue this series called The Names of God we want to take a look at the name God revealed to Abram that helped him wait when he was about to give up on God's promise. If you have your Bible turn to Genesis 15.
Last week, we looked at Genesis 14 and saw how God revealed himself to Abram as El Elyon, God Most High, God the Creator of heaven and earth who owns all the wealth in the universe, who's in control of everything around us, whom we can totally trust to take care of us. Abram needed to hear that when he was being tempted by the King of Sodom to accept wealth that would have given that evil king, not God, credit for Abram's greatness. But God's glory and his reputation were more important to Abram than stuff. And so he said, "Take it all back. I'm going to trust God to take care of me." And God honored him for that and eventually gave Abram lots of stuff and made him very wealthy and God got all the glory for it. Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be given to you as well.
But now Abram's wrestling with God over his promise to give him a child. He was seventy-five years old when God said to him in Genesis 12 that out of you will come a great nation. But that was ten years ago, Abram's now eighty-five and he's still waiting for that baby. And he and Sarai aren't getting any younger! So he says to God in Genesis 15:2-3, " O Sovereign Lord, literally Adonai Jehovah, what can you give me since I remain childless and the one who will inherit my estate is Eliezer of Damascus?" And Abram said, "You have given me no children; so a servant in my household will be my heir."
Abram's saying, "Sovereign Lord, I know you're El Elyon, creator and owner of all things. And I'm learning to trust you. But where's the child you promised? You said I'd be the father of many nations. But I'm not even the father of one! I like Eliezer, he's a good guy, he's a faithful servant, but he's not my son. Is he going to inherit everything?"
Look at verses 4-6, Then the word of the Lord came to him, "This man will not be your heir, but a son coming from your own body will by your heir." He took him outside and said, "Look up at the heavens and count the stars-if indeed you can count them." Then he said to him, "So shall your offspring be." Abram believed the Lord, and he credited it to him as righteousness.
At that point God established a covenant with Abram that's described in the rest of chapter 15. Meanwhile, Abram's wife, Sarai, was deeply distressed over the whole situation. Ten years they had tried to have children, ten years of failure and frustration. Where's God? Why isn't he answering our prayers? Why isn't he fulfilling his promise? What's wrong with you, Abram? What's wrong with you, Sarai? What's wrong with us? Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. I was talking to a couple recently who said, "We tried for four years to have a child and couldn't. And it was so hard. It was the toughest thing on our marriage." And some of you know exactly the way Abram and Sarai felt, because you have felt that same pain.
So Sarai decides to take matters into her own hands. She has a solution. Look at Genesis 16:1-2, Now Sarai, Abram's wife, had borne him no children. But she had an Egyptian maidservant named Hagar, so she said to Abram, "The Lord has kept me from having children. Go, sleep with my maidservant, perhaps I can build a family through her."
So Abram took Sarai aside and said, "Honey, what are you crazy? I can't do that. I'm married to you. I'm committed to you. Don't be silly. Don't force me to have an affair with Hagar!" No, I don't see that in my Bible. Instead, he said, "You want me to ... with her? Sarai said, "Yes, I do." So Abram looked at Sarai, seventy-five years old, then he looked at Hagar twenty-two and said, "Alright, if you insist!" Abram agreed to what Sarai said.
Verse 3, So after Abram had been living in Canaan ten years. Sarai his wife took her Egyptian maidservant Hagar and gave her to her husband to be his wife. He slept with Hagar, and she conceived. When she knew she was pregnant, she (that is Sarai) began to despise her mistress. Drop down to verse 15, So Hagar bore Abram a son, and Abram gave the name Ishmael to the son she had borne. Abram was eighty-six years old when Hagar bore him Ishmael.
Abram and Sarai couldn't wait for God's timing. So they took matters into their own hands and they went their way, not God's way. The only thing worse than waiting, is wishing we had. And for the rest of their lives, they wished they would have waited. The sons of Abram by Hagar and by Sarai have been at war with each other from the time they were born. Ishamel grew up and became the father of the Arab race and Isaac the father of the Jews. And for 4,000 years there's been conflict and war and hatred and bloodshed between them, because Abram didn't wait.
And it has all fulfilled the prophecy the angel of the Lord gave Hagar in Genesis 16:11-12, "You are now with child and you will have a son. You shall name him Ishmael (which means 'God hears'), for the Lord has heard of your misery. He will be a wild donkey of a man, his hand will be against everyone and everyone's hand against him, and he will live in hostility toward all his brothers.
Abram and Sarai learned a hard lesson about waiting. And I talk to people all the time who have learned hard lessons because they just couldn't wait. Young single moms struggling to raise small children, fathered by boyfriends who have long since disappeared. They couldn't wait. Unhappy, painful marriages because of compromised standards. They couldn't wait. Couples deep in debt because they had to have it now. They couldn't wait. Waiting on God is hard. The only thing harder is wishing we had.
So thirteen more years go by and now Abram's ninety-nine years old. And the Lord shows up again and this is what we read in Genesis 17:1-2, When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am God Almighty, El Shaddai. Walk before me and be blameless. I will confirm my covenant between me and you and will greatly increase your numbers.
You know what I love about this passage. It shows me that God doesn't quit on us. Even though we make mistakes, big mistakes, like Abram made with Hagar, mistakes that cause a lot of pain to a lot of people, for years, even for generations, God still loves us, God still moves towards us, God still wants to work with us. He's the God of the second chance. How many of us could stand up here and talk about the second chances that God gave us and the third chances and the fourth ...
And now he gives Abram a fresh revelation of his character. He introduces a new name for himself, El Shaddai. The Hebrew name means "God Almighty," literally "God all-powerful and all-sufficient."
In effect, God's saying, "Abram, you already know me as El Elyon, the Most High God, in control of everything. I am the head, the chief, the boss of all creation. Now I'm going to tell you something else about me. I also keep my promises. Nothing will cause my word to fail. When I say something is going to happen, it will happen. I am El Shaddai, God Almighty, all-powerful and all-sufficient to keep my promises. I guarantee my word. I will give you a son."
And at this point, to confirm his promise, God changes Abram's name from "exalted father" to Abraham which means "father of a mob." That must have made everybody laugh. "Hey Abraham where's your mob!?" God also introduces circumcision as the sign of his covenant with Abraham. The he promises Isaac.
Look at verses 15-22, God also said to Abraham, "As for Sarai your wife, you are no longer to call her Sarai (which means "my princess"), her name will be Sarah (which simply means "princess"). I will bless her and will surely give you a son by her. I will bless her so that she will be the mother of nations. Kings of peoples will come from her. Abraham fell facedown. He laughed and said to himself, "Will a son be born to a man a hundred years old? Will Sarah bear a child at the age of ninety?" And Abraham said to God, "If only Ishmael might live under your blessing!" Then God said, "Yes, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son, and you will call him Isaac (which means 'he laughs"). I will establish my covenant with him as an everlasting covenant for his descendants after him. And as for Ishmael, I have heard you. I will surely bless him. I will make him fruitful and will greatly increase his numbers. He will be the father of twelve rulers, and I will make him into a great nation. But my covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear to you by this time next year." When he had finished speaking with Abraham, God went up from him.
Abraham couldn't believe it! He thought Ishmael was the promised son. He had long given up on trying to have a child with Sarah. She was ninety years old and he was ninety-nine. He couldn't see past his age, his dried up body and Sarah's dead womb. The thought of them having a kid was a joke. So he laughed at God's promise. And God said, "Call the boy, Isaac, which means 'he laughs' as a reminder that you laughed at my word."
So armed with this fresh word from God and the new revelation that God is El Shaddai, "God Almighty, keeper of his promises," Abraham demonstrates his faith by immediate obedience. He does what God tells him to do. That's what faith does. Faith obeys. And what God told him to do wasn't easy.
Look at verses 23-27, On that very day Abraham took his son Ishmael and all those born in his household or bought with his money, every male in his household, and circumcised them, as God told him. Abraham was ninety-nine years old when he was circumcised (Ouch!), and his son Ishmael was thirteen. Abraham and his son Ishmael were both circumcised on that same day. And every male in Abraham's household, including those born in his household or bought from a foreigner, was circumcised with him.
They had a circumcision party! Sounds painful. I've been in Arab countries and to this day they still have circumcision parties for their boys at the age of thirteen. While Jews circumcise on the eighth day as was Isaac who was finally born in Genesis 21, twenty-five years after God's original promise.
Look at Genesis 21:1-7, Now the Lord was gracious to Sarah as he had said, and the Lord did for Sarah what he had promised. Sarah became pregnant and bore a son to Abraham in his old age, at the very time God had promised him. Abraham gave the name Isaac to the son Sarah bore him. When his son Isaac was eight days old, Abraham circumcised him. Abraham was a hundred years old when his son Isaac was born to him. Sarah said, "God has brought me laughter, and everyone who hears about this will laugh with me." And she added, "Who would have said to Abraham that Sarah would nurse children? Yet I have borne him a son in his old age."
El Shaddai, God Almighty can be trusted to fulfill his word. Not only did God rejuvenate Sarah's body to bear Isaac, but to nurse him as well. And that just cracked her up and everybody else who heard about it. Ninety's pretty old to have a baby. In fact, Sarah still holds the world record for being the oldest mom on the planet. The 2001 Guinness Book of World Records gives second place to Rosanna Dalla Corta, a woman from Italy, who gave birth to a baby boy back in July of 1994 at the young age of 63. Sarah blows her away!
What are you waiting for right now? What is it that you want to see God do, but he's not? Where do you feel the pressure to do something, even if it's the wrong thing, just because it's so hard to wait to do the right thing? You pray and you pray and you pray and nothing happens.
Remember El Shaddai, God Almighty always keeps his promises. You can trust the fact that he loves you, that he knows what's best for you, and that in his time, he will give it to you, whatever it is, whether it's a job, or a spouse, or a child. If it's a good thing, God will give it. One of favorites promises of God in all the Bible is Psalm 34:10, we're going to memorize this week in our Kid's Klub. The lions may grow weak and hungry, but those who seek the Lord lack no good thing. Wait on El Shaddai. Trust in him. And when that thing you want so badly becomes a good thing for you, God will give it to you. Trust him.