El Shaddai is the third name of God we are given in Scripture, and as we have seen thus far each name of God reveals to man that much more of His Nature, and Character, and Attributes. El Shaddai is the Hebrew for the English translation God Almighty.It is easy for the imaginations of men when considering the Almighty God to ponder the supposition that God can do everything and anything, but such is not the case. For God cannot lie. God cannot do that which is contrary to Himself. To lie, or to do evil is contrary to His Divine Nature which is Righteousness and Truth. Instead, the fact that God is Almighty means He has the power to carry out the will of His Divine Nature. It means that God can fulfill His own Divine purpose. If He could not fulfill His purposes He would not be Almighty.
To understand this becomes important when most in ignorance teach quite the opposite. Without knowing the power of God to fulfill His purpose, nor what that purpose might be, most restrict God to the level of an impotent Creator. This Almighty God many in the church proclaim, is limited by the so called "free will" of His creation, and we are told that though He would like to save all men, He is powerless to do so. What a contradiction! To say that God is Almighty, and powerful to perform His Divine purpose and will, only to restrict that power by any lesser will of His own creation. To declare the truth of the Scriptures and say that God is not willing that any should perish only to deny His power to carry out His will. To suggest that God is left frustrated by a creation out of control. That Adam was seduced by a devil behind God’s back, and now God is left to clean up the mess. That God is to try and salvage the best that He can with what He is left with, pleading His case with man if only they would listen. What blasphemy! What heresy! What an affront to an Almighty God! It is no wonder that many are not interested in a helpless, incompetent, weak God proclaimed in pulpits.
Oh, that we would come to know the true Nature of God revealed to us by His Names! That we would learn of Elohim, who through an unbreakable covenant of love relationship with Himself includes all that He has made. That we could see Jehovah, who reveals true being, who therefore must be opposed to all that is false and evil, and must judge it whatever the cost to Himself or His creatures. And now that we would see El Shaddai: Almighty God.
The word El rightly translated as God means might or power. While El used in scripture is not limited to God only, where the word El is applied to God, it is in reference to His power. The word Shaddai primarily means Breasted, or more specifically a woman’s breast. It describes a pouring or shedding forth of nourishment.
Just as in the same way that if a mother’s milk is not measured correctly it brings harm, for that it can cause choking, so also when blessings are misused they can become a curse. A mother’s breast is needed to calm a child when nothing else will. God shows us His goodness, that leads men to repentance. He presents Himself as the Breasted One, and entices us to come to Him for nourishment.
El Shaddai, who pours forth into us out of Himself, and fills us with His Righteousness, His Power, and His Life. That God by giving Himself and His life to us can make us like Himself, givers of ourselves to Him, and to others. We declare an Almighty God, but we live in defeat. We must receive of the El Shaddai of God, that we become "breasted" to nourish others.
Upon the revelation of El Shaddai, Abram becomes Abraham. His nature changes from fruitless, to bountiful, and his name reflected the change. The addition to the name Abram is pronounced with an out-breathing that is reflective in the "Breath" of God. God breathes out from Himself, and we breathe Him in. When God exhales, we must inhale! You cannot inhale unless God exhales and pours Himself into us, and He becomes in us the answer. He must increase; I must decrease. When we empty ourselves of ourselves, He will fill us with Himself, and fulfill His Word in us, as we become a channel of blessings. It is no longer I that liveth, but Christ that liveth in me. The less of self -- the more of God. As long as we try to fulfill the promise of God for ourselves we will only produce an Ishmael. A son of the flesh, not an heir of promise.
This is El Shaddai, the Almighty God who is not powerless, and weak as some suppose. He who judges the strength, and self righteousness of the flesh. He who afflicts and empties out our self will, that He might better fill to a double portion with Himself so that we become a breasted for others to obtain nourishment. Not that it is we who are the blessing, but by the measurement that God has become us in us, can we pour forth what He has poured in. Indeed God Almighty, who makes us willing to be willing. Who calls us, who saves us, who blesses us, and makes us a blessing.
AMEN.
