We have names for everything. They are how we identify each other and all of the many things in this world. Our names keep us from calling each other ‘hey you’ or from having to describe what we’re wearing or what we look like. For many years, names were given based on their meaning. My name, Tamara, means ‘palm tree’ or ‘date palm’ in Hebrew. I doubt my parents knew that when they chose it.

The Bible uses many names to describe God. A frequently used one is ‘Almighty’ or El Shaddai. The word almighty usually brings to mind complete power, unlimited strength, invincibility, omnipotence and transcendence. All of these definitions are correct, but they don’t tell the whole story. 

According to blueletterbible.org, Shaddai may have been derived from shad, which means breast in Hebrew. ‘This refers to God completely nourishing, satisfying, and supplying His people with all their needs as a mother would her child. Connected with the word for God – El – this denotes a God who freely gives nourishment and blessing; He is our Sustainer.’

But again, that isn’t quite the whole story. Michael Jinkins observes that God ‘defines power in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ.’ He goes on to say, ‘the power of God revealed in Christ is the irresistible force of God’s self-surrender, the strength, the almightiness, of Gods’ self-emptying and other-centered love’.¹

What a different picture of power and might. Our Almighty God is the one who gave up the glory of heaven to become one of us – a helpless infant – and then laid down his life for the whole world in a stupendous act of self-emptying and self-surrender. To this day, he continues to limit himself on our behalf, just as a mother selflessly gives life and nourishment to her child. Almighty indeed!

First published on 3 December 2024, at www.gemsofgodsgrace.wordpress.com a personal blog which is not sponsored by Grace Communion International.

 ¹ Michael Jinkins, Invitation to Theology, p. 84.

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