Jehovah: The Relational God; The Unchangeable, Intimate God
Last week we considered the Almighty Powerful Creator God. Today, we want to explore another aspect of God’s character that is demonstrated to us by another name He calls Himself: Jehovah. If Elohim is God’s creative and powerful name, Jehovah is God’s personal name. Elohim is the side of God who created the heavens and the earth. Jehovah is the side of God who relates to His creation personally.
By sharing this name, God wants us to know that He is not a God who is remote or aloof, but one who is always near, intervening on behalf of His people. This name occurs more than 6,800 time in the Old Testament. Jewish scribes, who copied the manuscripts of the Bible, felt the name was so holy that they did not even pronounce it. They wrote it without the vowels, because it was never to be spoken aloud!
To get past the problem of saying the unpronounceable name when reading the Scriptures aloud, the Jews created what is known as a tetragrammaton – literally “the four letters”. YHWH is a combination of consonants derived from the verb “to be” and so implies that God is eternal. When the scriptures were translated into English, vowels were inserted to form what we pronounce as Jehovah.
God first reveals this name to us in the context of the burning bush story in Exodus 3-4. When Moses asked, “Who shall I say sent me?”, the answer was this: “I AM THAT I AM”. This response from God signifies that He is self-existent. What this means is that he is the only real being and the source of all reality. God depends upon no one. There never was a time when God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit was not. He just “IS” – always existing in the present.
In revealing Himself as Jehovah, God is revealing Himself as our intimate, personal God – One who is always with us in the present moment. This name, Jehovah, carries with it an understanding of the unchangeable nature of God.
God’s most basic message to His children is for you to simply know that He exists. He is there no matter what tries to overwhelm you. He is beside you in the present moment. Since Jehovah is most often associated with God’s intervention on behalf of His people, and since He never changes, we can expect that He will still be intervening on our behalf when those situations arise that we can’t handle on our own. He walks closely beside you, and when you call upon Him for help, Jehovah intervenes on your behalf.
Knowing this close, personal relationship God wants to have with us is key to our understanding of who God says He is, and how He reveals Himself to us. Consider what can happen when the truth about His character gets twisted or lost altogether. A perfect example of this is found at the Garden of Eden where the serpent succeeded in getting both Adam and Eve to drop their Jehovah relationship with God and begin to twist or add things to it. “Did God say?” is the classic question that the serpent has asked since the beginning of time. Eve’s response shows that something had been twisted and added that God actually didn’t say.
It’s easy to twist things when we talk about an impersonal being off in the distance. But it’s much more difficult when this Jehovah God is right there with us, intimately knowing us, caring about us, guiding us, and carrying the authority as master over our lives! A person can actually believe in Elohim without knowing Jehovah. That’s why this relational side of God is so important for us to grasp. God will come as intimately close to us as possible, if we ask and seek Him.
You may find yourself facing something that requires that God intervene for you. Where do you specifically need His help? Take a moment to remember that He is the personal, intimately relational God who walks right beside you, waiting to intervene in your situation. Remind yourself that He never changes, and just as He’s always been working on behalf of His children, He is waiting and ready to step into your circumstance to make a way forward for you.
Como siempre, sus pensamientos y comentarios son bienvenidos aquí o puede enviarme un correo electrónico a sheryl@freshhope.us. Si está buscando un nuevo propósito y un camino para seguir adelante, considere unirse a uno de nuestros grupos de Refocusing Widows, ya sea en persona o en línea. Puede registrarse en www.refocusingwidows.org/Groups. ¡Esperamos conocerle!
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