Purpose: To magnify God's ability to do everything He promises.
Aim: I want the listener to gain great confidence in God's ultimate plan to bless His own.
INTRODUCTION: We all have needs, those needs may be physical, financial, or emotional like joy or happiness, but every one of us has needs. How can our needs be met?
We are studying what the Hebrew name El Shaddai means because we need to know that we are protected and provided for. The truth is that only the Lord can meet our every need.
Proverbs 18:10 The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe. (NAU)
In our culture today I fear that we generally look to government instead of God for our protection and provisions.
We are now learning that our government is more than 13 trillion dollars broke. Not only that, but we have borrowed trillions of dollars from other countries just to keep our economy going. Just like Greece and Spain and Portugal found out this year, government can't forever spend money it doesn't have.
Our country's present financial problems could wind up being a real blessing if we will just learn that we should not depend on the government to take care of us. Not only is the government unable to take care of us, we can't even take care of ourselves. This is why the Bible says that, "The name of the LORD is a strong tower"
Let's learn to run to El Shaddai for our safety.
REVIEW:
I. The Meaning of El Shaddai
A. El: "mighty power"
B. Shaddai: "all sufficient provider"
II. The Message of El Shaddai
Gen.17:1-8; 15-22 A. El Shaddai supplies the impossible
-as God promised a son to Abraham and Sarah who saw the fulfillment when Sarah was 90 years old.
Gen.28:1-8 B. El Shaddai blesses the obedient
-as Jacob refused to marry a pagan woman
Gen.35:1-4; 9-12 C. El Shaddai doesn't share worship
-as Jacob turned away from all false worship before God changed his name to "Prince with God"
LESSON:
Gen.43:11-15 D. El Shaddai will always be enough
[Vs.11-12] Joseph had been sold into slavery by his brothers many years earlier. A famine forced Jacob to send his remaining sons (except his favorite son Benjamin) to Egypt to buy food. In the meantime Joseph had been appointed second in command in Egypt.
The first time they came to Egypt to buy food Joseph kept Simeon in prison as security so that the next time they came they would bring Benjamin as well. To test their honesty Joseph had secretly returned their money in their sacks of grain.
[Vs.13-15] In his old age Israel had finally come to the place where he was willing to fully trust El Shaddai: "if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."
There is a famine in the land of promise, but Jacob knows that there is no famine in the name El Shaddai.
"Will I accept my circumstances as allowed by God, understanding that everything is orchestrated not by chance but by an omnipotent God Who seeks to bring about my highest good?" [1]
Gen. 48:1-5, 15-16, 21 E. El Shaddai never changes His promises
[Vs.1-5] Israel and all of his family were now living in Egypt, but this was not their ultimate home. Israel wanted to make sure that the promises of El Shaddai were not forgotten.
[Vs.15-16] Israel testified that through all of his life God had cared for him the way a caring shepherd would care for his sheep.
[Vs.21] Here Israel reminds Joseph that Egypt is not his home.
Philippians 3:19--20 [there are false teachers] whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things. For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; (NAU)
Colossians 3:2 Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth. (NAU)
Ex. 6:1-8 F. El Shaddai moves mightily when He moves
[Vs.1-4] El Shaddai fulfills His promises even if there has been a long delay.
[Vs.5-8] This "Almighty all-sufficient God who protects and provides" who is also the "Eternally Self-existent one" is perfectly in charge of all things.
Look again at verse 3. First we must be convinced that the Lord is ABLE to provide (El Shaddai), and then we must be convinced that the Lord is WILLING to provide (Yahweh). Hebrews 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe [#1 God is able] that He is and [#2 God is willing] that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. (NAU)
Ezek. 10:1-5 G. El Shaddai's power is awesome
Psalm 29:3 The voice of the LORD is upon the waters; The God of glory thunders, The LORD is over many waters. (NAU)
Job 37:4--5 "... a voice roars; He thunders with His majestic voice, And He does not restrain the lightnings when His voice is heard. God thunders with His voice wondrously, doing great things which we cannot comprehend. (NAU)
III. Our Response to El Shaddai
A.B. Simpson said: "Beloved, have we learned, as we bow the knee in prayer, that we are talking with Him Who still says to us as to Abraham, 'I am El Shaddai; the Almighty God'; to Jeremiah, 'I am the Lord, the God of all flesh: is there anything too hard for me?'; to Isaiah, 'Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding.'" [2]
A. Trust that El Shaddai can do anything
Do you have times when you are weary? God never does. Isaiah 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth does not become weary or tired. His understanding is inscrutable. (NAU)
This all powerful God can do anything, but we will remain weak until we desire Him so much that we are willing to spend much time with Him.
David shows us the way in Psalm 5:3: "In the morning, O Lord, You hear my voice. In the morning I lay my requests before You--and I will look up!"
James Smith points out that:
This was the Psalmist's determination in the morning--and it should be ours.
Preserved and protected through the night--we should look up with gratitude, and praise our God for His goodness.
Aware of our dependence and needs--we should look up and beg mercies of our Almighty God for the new-born day.
Sensible of our foes and dangers--we should look up and pray to be kept, guided, and sanctified by our ever-present God.
If we look within--it will [discourage] us;
if we look around--it may distract us;
if we look back--it may awaken fears;
if we look forward--it may arouse foreboding!
But if we look UP to God--it will preserve . . .
the head from swimming,
the heart from sinking,
the feet from slipping, and
the hands from hanging down!
Beloved, let us look up!
There our loving Father is!
There our interceding Savior is!
There all our supplies are!
There our everlasting home is!
Let others look where they will, "I will look up!" [3]
B. Believe that El Shaddai can bring life out of death
Ephesians 2:1 And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, (NAU)
Ephesians 2:4--8 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; (NAU)
Jesus Himself said, "... he who believes in Me will live even if he dies" (John 11:25 NAU).
C. Know that El Shaddai is all we need
Psalm 73:25 Whom have I in heaven but You? And besides You, I desire nothing on earth. (NAU)
Seek God, not just what God can give you.
Matthew Henry: "The God with Whom we have to do is a God that is enough. [1.] He is enough in Himself; He is Self-sufficient; He has every thing, and He needs not any thing. [2.] He is enough to us, if we be in covenant with Him: we have all in Him, and we have enough in Him, enough to satisfy our most enlarged desires, enough to supply the defect of everything else, and to secure to us a happiness for our immortal souls."
"Is El Shaddai enough? Is He sufficient to meet my needs? Can He be trusted to fulfill His promises?" [4]
We have all turned away from the only One who can faithfully supply our every need.
"For My people have committed two evils: they have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, and hewn themselves cisterns--broken cisterns that can hold no water." Jeremiah 2:13
Dr. David Jeremiah challenges us with these thoughts: "Imagine an ever-flowing fountain, accessible and attractive, the waters fresh and pure. The flow is copious as the water gurgles and splashes from rock to rock as if dancing down stair steps. There a person finds the overflow to meet his needs, irrigate his crops, and water his flocks. He never thirsts, and the fountain is never diminished in drought.
"Now imagine this man deliberately ignoring the fountain. With illogical obstinacy he prefers to dig a hole in the ground for run-off water, which quickly seeps out of his broken cistern, leaving him nothing but mud.
"That's the Bible's picture for those looking for happiness in the wrong places. The world is filled with broken cisterns--we can easily name them--but only Jesus can give satisfying joy. "He said: 'Whoever drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I shall give him will never thirst. But the water that I shall give him will become in him a fountain of water springing up into everlasting life.'
"True happiness is only in Christ, the living water.
"'I came to Jesus, and I drank of that life-giving stream; my thirst was quenched, my soul revived, and now I live in Him.' Horatius Bonar" [5]
God is El Shaddai. He is sufficient to meet all of our needs so that we might be pleasing to God and have everything we need.
D. Remember that El Shaddai can calm our fears
We cannot live without fear by our self effort but only by "Shaddai dependence", which means continually leaning on the everlasting arms of the One we have come to know and trust as El Shaddai.
Live as if you had a God who is all-sufficient.
A.B. Simpson said that it is as if God was telling Abraham, "You have not been walking before Me. You have been walking before Sara, before Hagar, before circumstances, before your difficulties and limitations and infirmities. Now lift your vision above all these, look at Me alone and see in Me the God who is enough, and stand upright in uncompromising faith. And so henceforth Abraham 'staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; and being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform.'"
R C Sproul commenting on El Shaddai writes that...
"When God revealed himself by this name to the patriarchs in Genesis he focused on his power, revealing himself as the God who makes and keeps his promises. It was a name that demanded faith in what was coming but not yet; the God behind the promise was sufficient for now, even if the fulfillment of the promises could not be seen... God makes promises, and God is mighty to perform them. God is strong enough to accomplish everything He has said He will do. He has the power to fulfill every promise He has made to His people. Isn't this where our faith tends to fail?" [6]
CONCLUSION: Psalm 91:1--2 He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High Will abide in the shadow of the Almighty [Shaddai]. I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, My God, in whom I trust!" (NAU)
You have to be very close to someone before you can be in their shadow. God is our refuge if we desire to live very close to Him.
Maybe you don't know El Shaddai personally because you have never yielded yourself whole heartedly to Him.
God is ready to assume full responsibility for the life wholly yielded to Him. - Andrew Murray [7]
[1]Online resource: http://preceptaustin.org/el_shaddai.htm#91
[2]A. B. Simpson. The Life of Prayer
[3]James Smith, "Daily Bible Readings for the Lord's Household"
[4]Online resource: http://preceptaustin.org/el_shaddai.htm#91
[5]“Turning Point” with Dr. David Jeremiah Copyright March 7, 2011
[6]Sproul, R. Vol. 3: Before the Face of God
[7]Galaxie Software, 10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Biblical Studies Press, 2002; 2002).
