Matthew 6:9 “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name”.
Hallowing the name of the Lord gives us a glimpse into the greatness of our God and the frailty of humanity. When we gaze into His might, power and grandeur, the magnitude of our problems will shrink and the magnificence of His might will multiply. The ginormous intimidating giants and insurmountable mountains turn into tiny pebbles as we worship El-Shaddai, the All-Mighty God.
‘El-Shaddai’ is one of the names of our God. It appears for the very first time in Genesis 17:1 When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai—’God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. ‘El’ means God/Lord and the word ‘Shaddai’ means “mighty” or “All-Sufficient One”. El-Shaddai appears about seven times in the Bible. Revering the Lord as the All-Mighty and All-Sufficient God puts to rest our apprehensions and anxieties. All-Mighty means that there is nothing more powerful or bigger than Him. All-Sufficient means there is no lack, deficiency or unmet need in Him. “Everybody – God = Nobody, but Nobody + God = Everybody”.
Abraham left everybody and everything to follow God. To Abraham the Lord God assured and reassured that He is All-Mighty. Abraham was 99 years old. His body was dead and his wife had well past the child bearing age but the Lord reaffirmed His promise, “I am All-Sufficient”.
Fear grips us only because we become helpless. A challenging assignment, business barrier, health condition or strained relationship that cannot be fixed by our influence, worldly wisdom, skills, knowledge or expertise make us helpless and overwhelm us with dread. But hallowing His holy name and acknowledging the Lord as El-Shaddai defeats dread and builds spiritual resilience.
El-Shaddai – ‘The All-Mighty and All-Sufficient God”:
1. Might: Messianic Rabbis say that the word “Shaddai” comes from the Akkadian word shaddu, meaning “mountain.” (Akkad is an ancient extinct dialect and the oldest Semitic language that was spoken by the Assyrians and Babylonians). El-Shaddai is the mountain of safety and security from the tornados of life. He is mightier than the fiercest storm that we face.
2. Majesty: Exalting and worshiping El-Shaddai moves us into the awe and majesty of His grandeur and supremacy over everything. The intimidation of human authorities or demonic powers will become minuscule as we meditate on the majesty of our God.
3. Magnificent: The magnitude of His might augments as we meditate on His magnificence. This is why David said, O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt his name together (Psalm 37:3). Revering His holy name does not make God any bigger than who He already is, it only changes our perspective about His majesty. As we magnify the Lord more and more our problems become smaller and smaller.
Hallow El-Shaddai. He is All-Sufficient, All-Powerful and All-Mighty.
Genesis 35:11 Then God said, “I am El-Shaddai—’God Almighty. ‘ Be fruitful and multiply. You will become a great nation, even many nations.
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