Grace Baptist Church of Springs Valley

EL SHADDAI

"The God Who Is Enough"

"And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the almighty God: walk before me, and be thou perfect." (Genesis 17: 1 )

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There are numerous names in the Scriptures given to God, each of which have a different shade of meaning.

1. Elohim - "The Strong One," appears in Genesis 1:1. It is used about 2,500 times in the Old Testament.

2. In Genesis 2:4 it is Jehovah - "The Self Existent One." Jehovah is distinctly the redemptive name for Deity, often used in compound form.

A. Jehovah-Jireh -"'The Lord our Provider." (Gen. 22:14)
B. Jehovah-rapha - "The Lord that Healeth." (Ex. 15:26)
C. Jehovah-nissi - "The Lord our Banner." (Psa. 60:4; Ex. 17:15)
D. Jehovah-Shalom - "The Lord our Peace." (Jud. 6:34)
E. Jehovah-ra-ah - "The Lord my Shepherd." (Psa. 23:1)
F. Jehovah-tsidkenu "The Lord our Righteousness." (Jen 23:56)
G. Jehovah-Shammah - "The Lord Who is There." (Ez. 38:35; Psa. 23:6)
H. Jehovah-M'Kaddesh - "The Lord our Sanctifier." (Lev. 20:7)

3. In Gen. 14:18 it is LORD - "The Most High."

4. In Gen. 15:2 we have Lord God - (Adonai Jehovah) - "The Lord our Master". Used scores of times.

5. Gen. 21:33 He is El Olam - our "Everlasting God."

6. In I Sam. 1:3 He is Jehovah Sabaoth - "The Lord of Host, He is the King of Glory"

7.In our text (Gen. 17:1) "El Shaddai" - "The Almighty God Who is Enough."

It is doubtful that any of God's other names is so full of meaning, or has such depth, length and breadth as the name El Shaddai.

THE CONTEXT IN WHICH EL SHADDAI IS USED.

Abraham is seen as having been out of fellowship, or communion, with the Lord for some fifteen years, when the Lord appears to him in this chapter. Much like Adam and Eve in the garden, Abraham had stepped out of the path of simple faith in God, and had stepped over into the path of reason and doubt. It had to do with God's promise of a son that Sarah was to bear for him, and through whom God would bless all nations.

We learn in the preceding chapters that he and Sarah, especially, Sarah, had grown impatient relative to God's faithfulness, or ability, in fulfilling His promise of an heir. Thus Sarah offers the suggestion that perhaps the Lord desired them to use the acceptable custom of the society 'in which they now resided. She reasons with Abraham that Hagar might be taken to wife, thus producing that promised son. From that evil day, trouble hung heavy over that patriarchal home. Communion with God had ceased, and for those many years Abraham wandered from place to place, a disappointed, dissatisfied and despairing child of God.

Then, once again God appears unto him with this healing, heartening and restoring message. God said something to the effect:

"Abraham, you have been unduly influenced by the unbelief of Sarah; but I am El Shaddai - the God Who is enough - and once you get this truth down in your heart, you will be enabled to get your eyes off of time and circumstances, placing your confidence in Me, and believe the staggering promise which I now make to you, that Isaac will indeed be born unto you - even in your old age."
God was anxious for Abraham to be assured that His God's word was enough to keep his heart and mind satisfied and peaceful. And, we, too, need to learn that He has the same concern for every discontented, dissatisfied, and despairing soul today. God's word can always be trusted. There's a little chorus we learned many years ago:

"He's everything to me, from sin he sets me free;

His peace and love my portion through all eternity.

He's everything to me, more than I dreamed could be,

Oh! Praise His name forever, He's everything to me."

Permit us to dwell a while on the "Enough God". We need to remember that the God of nature is also the God of grace, and the God of grace is the God of nature. All of nature speaks of the liberality of God.

We heard of a woman who had never seen the ocean until a friend took her to view it. As she viewed it, her friend noted tears streaming down her cheeks as she looked over the deep. "What do you think of it?" She replied, "It is the first thing I have ever seen of which there is enough." was the reply.

Have we ever considered how little of the sunshine ever reaches our little planet? What would we suppose that fraction to be? I'm told that to measure that, we would need to divide one millionth part by 273, and then we would discover the finitesimal fraction of the sun's rays which comes to this little world of ours. Where does all the rest go? It streams out into space. Now God certainly is not hard up for sunshine, but He knows how much to send upon our tiny planet. Just think of the liberality of the God of nature, and marvel that the God before Whom we bow, the El Shaddai, is "The Enough God." The God of nature IS the God of grace, and since the provisions of nature are abundant, the provisions of His grace are equally magnificent.

HE IS ENOUGH FOR OUR SALVATION

Surely the atoning work of our glorious Redeemer is enough. Do you ever wonder whether the work of Calvary is really adequately deserving of our trust? The God of nature, the One Who made all the vastness of the universe is our El Shaddai the One Who sent His only begotten Son to make that provision sure. Not only are we to know the sufficiency of His grace to redeem us from our sins, but that His grace should be our eternal theme.

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Theologians don't all agree as to the definition of grace. This writer defines grace as "the unmeritable favor of God", but whatever it is - God has an abundance of it, for He speaks of the "unsearchable riches of His grace". Let each of His children learn to say: -

"Upon a life I did not live,
Upon a death I did not die,
Another's life, Another's death,
I stake my whole eternity."

HE IS ENOUGH FOR OUR SATISFACTION

We often see in newspapers, magazines, and on television the pathetic pictures depicting the long lines of half clothed little children, with their tin cups, waiting for their daily rations. With each passing day, they become more emaciated, and more starved, and with each passing day they have less of life, and are less satisfied physically.

But there is something far higher in the human life than the physical. There are teeming millions of souls trying to satisfy the deepest desires of the human soul with a tin cup of philosophy, or some man-made useless help for their soul's need.

How can a man with a great heart and an immortal soul find any satisfaction whatever in the things of this world? He was made for God. He was made for eternity. Therefore there can be no satisfaction for that immortal soul outside of a vital, personal experience with God - the God Who is enough for our satisfaction. The tragedy of it all is that teeming millions have never discovered that the secret of their satisfaction is to be found in God, and that there is no other way to experience it.

The Lord Jesus Christ, the El Shaddai in human flesh, talked to the woman at the well about this. She had tried every human source. She had tried some things which she certainly ought not to have tried. She had gone the limit to find satisfaction in what this world could give. As she talked with Him, He disclosed her secrets, and her yearning for something of satisfaction.

Immediately, she realized that He was different from anyone she had ever known. What did Jesus tell her? "You are in the world where you are getting thirsty. The more you drink, the more you want. But if you will drink of the water which I have to give, you will never thirst again."

What a message for multitudes of Christians who are half in the church and half in the world. What pastor is not continuously confronted with questions as to whether it is wrong to participate in certain worldly amusements? They search in the wrong places for satisfaction. Jesus said, "Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst."
Thank God, we will never thirst again if we will drink of the fountain of His provision.

HE IS ENOUGH FOR OUR SECURITY

The God of nature who binds this earth in its relation to the sun so that it swings around its orbit without the slightest variation of an inch of space, or a second of time, IS the El Shaddai who binds the saved sinner to Himself. If gravity - the thing that holds this earth to the sun - is wonderful, how much more wonderful, and marvelous is grace, the thing that holds us to the heart of El Shaddai. It is divine favor; it is God's love and mercy; it is God's everlasting, eternal love that binds us to the heart of our El Shaddai. We can never be separated from Him. For Jesus said, "No man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand... I and my Father are one".

Does our Lord desire you in His service? Then He will be your sufficiency, for He said, "Lo I am with you alway, even unto the end of the age," A young Scottish preacher was visiting in the home of an elderly lady who knew the Scriptures very well. He sought to be an encouragement and leave her with some inspirational text, so he said to her, "What a lovely promise that is, Lo, I am with you always." "Hoot, mon," she replied, "it's no promise, it's a FACT." Dear reader, take heart - it is not "I WILL BE with you." That would be blessed, but it is more than that. It is I AM with you" - the declaration of a glorious fact.

A FEW TESTIMONALS