El Shadday

Today, I'm writing in response to a request from a friend. She told me that there were friends in Africa reading the blog and being blessed by it. "Please keep writing!" she said. I smile at the wonder of our great God, that he chooses the simple to confound the wise. Such simple things, such as taking pleasure in writing down our thoughts on paper (typing in this case), can be used by God to bless His own, even in another country.

My heart longs to encourage people, especially my brothers and sisters in Christ. I guess you could say it's sort of an outlet. Sometimes I feel as if I'm just chock full of the love of God and need to pull the release valve in order to get some sort of relief from it. Writing of God and His goodness is an easy way to do that.

When we bask in the presence of our heavenly Daddy, we get so full. Our hearts are filled to capacity. What can we do? We feel as though we would burst if we could not release this great love. I can imagine that this is precisely how our God felt before he created Adam. He needed to release His goodness on someone, so He chose you and me! He chose mankind to love and cherish!

Just think of it! Can you imagine it? The creator of the whole universe could find no better subject on which to pour Himself. He had all of heaven and earth, all the stars and planets, all the animals, sea creatures and flying creatures. He even had all the angels who were partaking of his splendor, but He chose to create man and crown him with His glory.

Understand this: there is nothing wrong with loving plants and animals or embracing nature and technology. After all, it was God who created it all and put it into motion, but we need to keep things in the proper perspective. God in His great wisdom waited to crown His design with the pinnacle of His success, His beloved man. All the heavens and the earth was designed and created for us. We were the very reason for His creation in the first place. If He had only desired someone to worship Him, He would have gladly stuck with the angels. They were already with Him, and His every wish was their command. What other reason could there have been for God to create another? Why man? This is exactly what Job asked (Job 7:17), then the psalmist in Psalm 8. Apparently, He had already planned man out. He had been thinking of us, meditating on how it would be to embrace someone of His very own, His own kind, in His own image.

This sparks a significant thought. One of God's names is El Shaddai or El Shadday. Most people only recognize this word to mean God Almighty, but this Hebrew word means much more than that. It really means 'the all-breasty one' or 'the many breasted one'. This analogy is so fitting. (I have five children, all of which were breastfed. So, I truly understand the concept of being 'full of goodness' for your little ones.)

Have you ever noticed the transformation that occurs in a woman during pregnancy and immediately following childbirth? As the months pass, her breasts and her belly get more and more full. Then once delivery is complete, the baby has his first feeding day, and the race is on! It seems as if the baby cannot eat enough. The mother's breasts produces much more milk than the baby has appetite for. By day two, Mommy has so much milk that all she can think of is the relief that will come from her baby's suckle! The mother is absolutely full of good milk for the nourishment of her baby's body and soul.

Nothing and no one has what she has for that baby. No one can nourish her baby quite like her. Not only is her milk the best source for baby's nourishment, but everything about the breastfeeding process is good for baby (the minerals and vitamins, the immunity developed in baby, the strength required for baby's jaws to draw out the milk, etc.), and the time they spend together is irreplaceable. The bond they have is like no other and all because that baby belongs to her and no amount of crying can make her love him any less.

This is a picture of the Father's love for each of us. He is so full of goodness for you and me. He feels absolutely engorged with mercy and compassion for us. No amount of wrong doing can ever change His mind about us. He thinks good thoughts of us, and He has good plans for us. Everything about our time spent suckling of His goodness is beneficial for us. Our intimate fellowship with him is irreplaceable. No one can quite give us what He can, and our individual bond with Him is like no other. He is El Shadday!

Abraham was known as the friend of God, and God revealed Himself to Abraham as Jehovah Jireh, the God who sees ahead and provides. Moses was also known as the friend of God and God revealed Himself to Moses as well. In Exodus 34:6 it says that as the Lord passed before Moses. He revealed Himself to Moses as "The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth..."

Wow! God, the Creator of all the universe, could have revealed any aspect of His character to us through that encounter with Moses. Now think about this in context. Moses had just spent forty days and forty nights in the presence of God, receiving God's law written by God's very own finger just to return to a rebellious group of people. Moses delayed for only forty days. They had just promised to obey Moses and all God's commands brought through Moses, but as soon as Moses goes to find out what those commands are the people hearts are turned after false gods.

Notice the people were so hungry for God, but because they would not draw near to Him for themselves, they are easily deluded. They believe the works of their own hands can suffice for God. They believe their gold and jewels are enough to lead them. How foolish!

When Moses returns, he finds the people naked, dancing around a golden statue in the image of a cow! A cow, a four-footed beast that eats grass was the greatest image they could come up with to call God! Moses in fury and zeal for the one true God breaks the tablets of stone. The law had been broken before the people could even get it into their hands. Moses burns their false god, dumps its ashes into water and makes them drink it. This is their first taste of wrath concerning the broken law of God.

Now Moses is back on this mountaintop with God. God's law will be written again, but this time with Moses' hand, not God's. God reserves his writing for a greater cause. (But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people. Jeremiah 31:33) Moses is ready to hear God's words, but first, just one plea from Moses. See, Moses was just like you and me. His heart cried out to know God. I mean, afterall, this is the one true and living God who created all things. I'm supposed to obey Him and serve Him and love Him. How can I do that properly if I don't even know Him?

Moses felt the same way. He said, "God, I ask you, please, show me your glory."(Exodus 33:18, author's paraphrase) Now can you imagine having been with your mate for forty days and forty nights without seeing his/her intimate nature?  I can't either, but apparently this was the case with Moses and God. They had been together all that time alone on the mountaintop. Moses had received the law, but he had not seen God's glory. Apparently there was more to God than just His law.

God could have revealed Himself to Moses as 'The Lord, The Lord strong and mighty, The Lord mighty in battle, The Lord of Hosts, The one who can kill and make alive'. He could have scared the people into obedience. He could have assured that Moses would never turn away from Him because of His greatness and power, but He did not chose to show His greatness to Moses. Although God knew that He was grand, wise, and powerful, He chose to show Moses, and in turn to show us, the depth of His nature before giving the law the second time. God is Love! He is good, full of mercy, longsuffering, gracious and compassionate!

Oh, how our Daddy God loves us!!! He went to the highest height (heaven's mercy seat by way of Golgotha), the deepest depth (the belly of hell), and paid the greatest price (His very own Son, His very own life) to prove His abundant, chief, supreme love for us! We can dance around our own fleshly works, but they will never be a sufficient God for us. Jesus tasted the bitterness of God's wrath against sin for us. He abolished the need for us to allow our own dead works to rule our lives. He revealed the Father's heart to us. I will dare pay Him back. He gave His life for me. Now I give Him my life to live His life through me! Will you let Him be alive in you?

But thou, O Lord, art a God full of compassion, and gracious, longsuffering, and plenteous in mercy and truth. Psalm 86:15