My surname has lent itself to a few nicknames in the past, particularly when I was growing up! Hummie, Hummus, Markus Hummus Aurelius and The Hummster are some that I recall, they were just for fun and carried little meaning.
In the Bible (and still in many cultures today) names have meaning and are closely associated with nature (what someone is like, their personality and character). A name identifies, signifies, and specifies something about that person, its why on occasion in the Bible God has changed people’s names. For example, Abram became Abraham (Genesis 17:5), Sarai became Sarah (Genesis 17:5), Hoshea became Joshua (Numbers 13:16) and Saul became Paul (Acts 13:9).
Gods is described and named in many ways in the Bible, and all of them give us a deeper understanding of who God is, his character and nature. Over the coming weeks we are going to reflect on these names with an A – Z list. So here we go…
GOD IS…
ALMIGHTY
When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty; walk before me faithfully and be blameless.
Genesis 17:1 – NIV
Used by God 48 times in the Old Testament (31 times in the book of Job alone). The term in the Old Testament particularly amongst Jewish commentators meant ‘The All-Sufficient’, in the New Testament the term was more used to mean ‘All Powerful’. So our God being ‘Almighty’ is a combination of being all sufficient and all powerful. When we are struggling, confused, downtrodden or weak remember that we have a personal relationship with the Lord who said, ‘I am God Almighty’.
Let’s walk with God faithfully and blameless.
BEGINNING
“He said to me: ‘It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.”
Revelation 21:6 – NIV
It all starts with God. Creation, humanity, the past, present and future has been and will begin with God and be in God’s hands. God is the beginning and the end (perhaps we will use ‘End’ for ‘E’). This does not mean however that God will stop or be finished but that God encompasses all that we know and don’t know and all that exists, God decided what begins and what ends in creation. In him we find the spring of the water of life, we begin a new life in Jesus like being born again, for our God is the beginning.
COMPASSION & COMFORT
“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort
2 Corinthians 1:3 – NIV
God is all powerful and all sufficient but is also full of compassion and comfort. The Father of… implies that God is in charge, in control, the leader, when it comes to compassion and comfort there is no one better or more qualified. We read in John 14:25, that the Holy Spirit is the comforter. He reaches into the deepest and most difficult times and places of our human experience to bring his comfort, care and compassion. When life throws all the hard stuff at us (often it feels like it’s at the same time), hurt, death, divorce, tragedy, illness, pain – remember our God is full of compassion and comfort, turn to Him.
I hope as you reflect on these things you will find them a source of encouragement, that they deepen your love and understanding of our God.
Here are some attributes of God beginning with A – C that I could have written about, perhaps you may wish to reflect on these also this week.
A
- Able – 2 Timothy 1:12
- All Knowing – Psalm 139:1-6
- Awesome – Neh. 1:5
B
- Beautiful – Psalm 27:4
- Boundless – Jeremiah 23:24
C
- Commander – Joshua 5:15
- Conqueror – Romans 8:35-39
- Creator – Genesis 1
