I think I may have mentioned before that I am a huge fan of Amy Grant. I know that Christian music has moved on, but I have always liked Amy’s music. I spoke at a leadership event last week and I did a quick poll of who was a fan of Amy Grant. Out of the 100+ people there, there were a grand total of two fans, me and one other bloke. We had a great conversation afterwards about our favourite songs, and whether Amy has lost too much weight and needs to eat some more cake.
Anyway, one of Amy’s songs, El Shaddai has always struck a chord we me (pun intended). I learnt the chords and all the words and can still play it on my guitar. It’s a fairly tricky song to play but great to perform to an audience.
Hearing this song was the first time I realised there are a whole lot of different names for God in the Hebrew language. Each name describes a different characteristic of God. El Shaddai is conventionally translated as God Almighty.
Wikipedia had this to say about the origin and meaning of El Shaddai:
The term may mean “God of the mountains,” referring to the Mesopotamian divine mountain. The term was one of the patriarchal names for the tribal god of the Mesopotamians. In Exodus 6:3, El Shaddai is identified explicitly with the God of Abraham and with YHWH (Yahweh).
I was reflecting on the different names of God, and how I use the word ‘God’ far too generically. I think I might try a different approach and think about the character of God I need to focus on when I pray and worship. What about you? Do you think the term ‘God’ is far too overused? Let me really stick my neck out on the line. Do you think the word ‘God’ has become a cliché?
Here’s my thoughts on the names of God wrapped up in a poem about surrender:
At Your Feet
At Your feet we fall
El Elyona, Lord of all
Restore us, by Your love
As we look to Your light above
Forgive us Lord
As at Your feet we fall
On Calvary’s hill
El Shaddai, we exalt You still
Guide us, with Your hand
Help us seek then understand
Forgive us Lord
As at Your feet we fall
On Your cross of strife
We surrender our broken lives
Convict us, of our doubt
Turn out faith inside out
Forgive us Lord
As at Your feet we fall.
We give our all to You
Lord, mould our hearts anew
Align us, to Your will
May we learn to seek You still
Forgive us Lord
As at Your feet we fall
If you’re interested in finding out more about some different names of God, this YouTube clip is a really great reflective introduction
Big fan of Amy Grant here. In fact she’s going to be appearing sometime this year, somewhere not to far from me. Raised my girls on Amy. They still love her. 🙂
I love the names of God. Ones I’ve been meditating on for a while are Elohim and El Elyon.
I do think the word God has become cliche. Sometimes when I hear people in passing say “God bless’ “God be with you” etc. I wonder– what god are they referring to. I also think its used as a general term. When referring to God in certain settings, I find myself clarifying my God as Jesus, or the Lord, so there’s no doubt who I”m talking about.
For me, I’ve found it more powerful to call God by His name that meets a specific need. For example, when I need healing…I call him Jehovah Rapha. works for me! 🙂
Oh….great poem…. as usual. 🙂
On Your cross of strife
We surrender our broken lives
Convict us, of our doubt
Turn out faith inside out
Forgive us Lord
As at Your feet we fall.
Thank you
Thanks Joan. I’m just starting out with the names of God. I really like El Roi – The God who sees. I’ve been using that a lot recently 🙂
Thanks Kimberley. We all need to be turned inside out sometimes and put back together. We need to remeber to keep breathing too 🙂