The Power of a Name – Elohim

by Jean Wilund 

Names create powerful images in our mind.

People throughout time have put tremendous thought into naming their children. Some should’ve probably put a little more thought into it. (Phelony? Her parents must not have had high hopes for that child. Robin Graves? Did her parents never say her full name out loud?)

What do you think of when you hear the name Brutus? I imagine a hulking man with muscles in his earlobes.

What flashes into your mind when you hear the name Jean? Perhaps someone strikingly beautiful with an intelligent look about her?

When I think of the name Julia, greatness comes to mind. My friend Julia could do it all. That’s why, after I offered to help her throw a party, I felt like the five-year-old whose mom had to work twice as hard whenever she helped.

Julia, Muffuletta, and Cheesecake

I didn’t even recognize everything on Julia’s To Do list.

Make Muffuletta.

What do you do with that? Eat it or decorate with it?

I could read Make Cheesecake, but my last attempt at baking one flopped. After two hours in the oven, the cheesecake still hadn’t set.

I conceded defeat and chucked the liquid slop down the disposal.

The next day I opened the refrigerator to discover the unused cartons of cream cheese. I’d left the cheese out of the cheesecake.

Julia didn’t need my help. I just stood on the sidelines in awed admiration and ate three slices of her perfect cheesecake.

Elohim—the Almighty, Majestic, Self-Sufficient One.

Sometimes cheering is all we can do in the presence of greatness, particularly in the presence of ultimate greatness—God.

From the beginning, God revealed His greatness not only through the wonder of His creation but also through His name Elohim—the Almighty, Majestic, Self-Sufficient One.

In the beginning God [Elohim] created the heavens and the earth.
-Genesis 1:1 NASB

Elohim expresses the fullness of God, the indomitable, matchless Three-in-One, God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.

It’s tough to wrap our finite brains around the infinite Trinity, but if God were small enough to be fully understood, He wouldn’t be big enough to be God.

Our God is more than big enough.

As Elohim, He’s complete in Himself.

He doesn’t need help, information, or encouragement. He doesn’t even need friends since He enjoys perfect fellowship within the Trinity.

The Greatness of God In One Word

It takes me just one word to begin to express who God is: The-Eternal-God-Who’s-Always-Been-And-Will-Always-Be-Complete-Within-Himself-With-No-Needs.

It’s a long word.

God only needed one short word: Elohim.

It would be rather depressing to know God doesn’t need us if it weren’t so comforting.

Who wants to worship a God who’s in need?

How could we depend on a God who must depend on someone or something else to complete Him?

God didn’t create us because He wants to know us. He created us because He wants us to know Him.

And Jesus didn’t come down to earth because He didn’t want heaven without us. Heaven was perfect without us. He came to earth to fulfill His promise and the plan He set before the world started spinning.

“The God who made the world and all things in it, since He is Lord of heaven and earth, does not dwell in temples made with hands; nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all people life and breath and all things.”
– Acts 17:25-25 NASB

That Jesus would stoop to take on the lowly form of man, live among us, and die to save us is the greatest wonder of the world. And the truest display of love and grace.

How do we respond in the face of such greatness?

There’s only one proper response – worship.

May we moment-by-moment bow our hearts in awed admiration and humble worship before the Almighty, Majestic, Self-Sufficient God—Elohim.